Growing Pains
by Shirh Khan
Summary: In the face of a tragic accident, Ranma has to learn to grow up and become a man.
1. Truth and Consequences

Growing Pains

Truth and Consequences

It would be nice to say that today was a quiet and pleasant day in the Tokyo prefecture of Nerima, but unfortunately saying so would be a rather blatant lie. It was anything _but_ quiet. One of Nerima's premier martial-artists, a young man going by the name of Ranma Saotome, was on the run from another of the area's premier martial-artists, another young man, going by the name of Ryoga Hibiki. Of course if asked, Saotome would vehemently deny being _on the run_ from Hibiki—he would likely insist that he was doing his best to lead the other away from 'civilians' [as many of the _other_ premier martial-artists in the Nerima area, whom the so-called 'civilians' called with sarcastic-type affection 'The Nerima Wrecking Crew', thought of the prefecture's non-martial-artist population] and the potential to cause bodily or property damage.

Unfortunately, Ryoga Hibiki was particularly determined today, and he wasn't quite so easily swayed—or _lost_—as he might have usually been. But that was in part due to his curse, and the fact that said curse had nearly been revealed to one of the women who he felt with all of his being that he was in love with…provided he could only pull together the courage to actually _tell_ her how he felt.

Of course, to him, one Ryoga Hibiki, it was all Ranma's fault. It was _always_ Ranma's fault. Beneath the surface, where actual thoughts were birthed when he wasn't feeling angry, lost, or confused, he knew that it _wasn't_ always Ranma's fault, but at the same time, it _had to be_ Ranma's fault, because while there were choices that he had made that weren't a direct result of, or due to the influence of, Ranma Saotome, the _initial_ fault for where those decisions that came later, _were_ Ranma's fault. Ergo, it was _always_ Ranma's fault. And if was Ramna's fault this time, as well; he was positive that Ranma had somehow orchestrated the events that led to his beloved Akane's nearly finding out about his curse. The honorless cur had nearly found a loophole to expose him to his raven-haired beauty with.

That could not be allowed to go unpunished.

"Stop running and dodging me, and face me like a man!" he snarled at the retreating form of the other, leaping up from the crater he'd just created, dropping down knee-first onto the spot that for a few seconds had been occupied by the pig-tailed boy. Ranma wasn't cooperating with him.

"I don't know why you're so upset," the other was shouting back at him, "I saved your hide, bacon-breath!"

"It's your fault in the first place!" Ryoga roared back at him, and reached into his 'weapon-space' and pulled out his umbrella; he hurled the heavy bamboo implement towards Ranma, and while he was sure that it would miss, it would serve as a distraction to help him catch his eternal nemesis, and finally deal with him.

"I didn't do a thing!" Ramna shot back at him, almost absently kicking the umbrella away, at an angle that would require the pig-cursed boy to have to veer off to get it back, or leave it and perhaps get lost looking for it later. Thankfully, the sight of himself and Ryoga had convinced the 'civilians' to get off the streets, and there were very few potential casualties to avoid. It didn't hurt either that he was leading Mr. Porcini in the general direction of the abandoned warehouses that most of his fights with others of the 'Nerima Wrecking Crew' took place, where he could finally stop running and take Ryoga down cleanly. The only problem was that he'd veered in the wrong direction a few blocks back, and now he had to draw Ryoga through the restaurant portion of Nerima on the way. He was hoping that his usual run of luck would forgive him long enough to let him _get _to the warehouse district, and not—

And that was when a ki-charged bandana sailed just past his elbow. It was a testament to his years of training that he reacted to the incoming weapon before he even consciously realized that he was in danger. He dropped down to street level, in the attempt to get the other to change tactics, to consider the potential property damage he might cause, and to draw him down to the street as well.

"You idiot!" he shot back at Ryoga, dodging yet another bandana spinning his way, "You could hit someone with those things!" Immediately reconsidering his earlier idea, he took to the air again.

"Yeah, you!" Ryoga snarled back at him, only now just touching down on the pavement, flinging another bandana towards him.

"There're civilians here!" he cried, ducking down even in mid-air. As if to prove his point, a group of four noncombatants scattered from the outdoor teriyaki stand Ryoga had just landed in front of.

"You're just trying to avoid being beaten!" the other teen shot back at him, and flunk yet another bandana in his direction with one hand, and with the other, then tossed out a weighted line, with the intent to snag some part of the acrobatic martial-artist and pull him back down towards the ground.

Ranma felt the line catch his leg at the calf, just as Ryoga pulled at him, _hard_. He flared his own ki in order to control his descent, and landed only slightly harder than he would have had he jumped down to the ground.

"We can't fight here!" he shouted back at Ryoga with some measure of alarm- he was just about to try and explain a bit further, but then his senses screamed at him of another presence. He took his eyes off of Ryoga just long enough to see who the other presence was, and took in a sight that chilled him.

She was coming out of a hair boutique, just a couple doors down from the teriyaki cart Ryoga stood in front of; she was young, only a little older than he, perhaps maybe only Kasumi's age. she was dressed conservatively, much like Kasumi herself dressed, her hair dark and just brushing the tops of her shoulders. Even as he was taking notice of her, it was still _just _dawning on her that she- and her baby!- were not alone, and that she was walking straight into a situation of danger.

Ranma's eyes widened in horror even as the young woman was looking back at him in surprise, and he whipped his head around to take in Ryoga…and see the other man already in motion.

Ryoga frowned deeply as Saotome took his eyes off of him. "Don't ignore me, Saotome!" he snarled, and crouching down to his own feet, he charged his fingers with ki energy. It wasn't until his fingers were touching, and then digging, into the pavement before him, as he was already pushing the words out of his mouth, that he realized there was someone other than the two of them in range of his attack.

"_BAKUSAI TENKETSU!_"

Ranma was already taking action, moving, turning to reach out and grab the woman and her baby, to shield them with his body. While his body wasn't quite as tough as Ryoga's, he could far more take the punishment than the woman or her baby—especially her baby—and it was the cost he would pay for putting her and her child in danger, even if it wasn't directly or truly his fault.

And then the woman squirmed, trying to fight him, trying to get away, unfamiliar with him and who he was and the shield he was trying to provide for her, even as the pavement at his feet suddenly exploded into the air. She tried to push at him with the arm not holding onto the baby, while he struggled to keep her close to him. Under normal circumstances, Ranma Saotome could lift nearly a quart ton with ease, could fight Ryoga to a standstill when he chose, and could even keep the roving hands of Shampoo from touching things on his body he wasn't ready for- or interested in- having her touch. But he couldn't prevent the woman in his arms from squirming, from creating space between his body and her own, and his own eyes locked with hers as fear and panic glistened in the depths of her being, and then gasped as she suddenly stiffened, the shock of pain just barely beginning to register in her look, and then her body went almost bonelessly limp.

Ranma gently lowered her to the ground, his heart incredibly heavy. He could sense Ryoga moving towards him out of the corner of his eye, but the main focus of his attention was on the woman. Just as he had her nearly flat on her back, she spasmed, gasping, and coughing up an entire mouthful of blood. A small splattering spray of it caught him in the face, but he barely acknowledged that, too caught in the surreal moment to really give it much thought.

"Am I dying?" she managed to cough out, more blood pooling in her mouth and dribbling out down the sides of her cheeks. "I'm dying," she announced, before Ranma could even open his mouth to lie to her, to deny what his eyes were telling him, to try and hold onto the hope inside of him that he could rush her to a hospital, a clinic, to _someone_ who could help save her.

"No, lady," he found himself saying automatically, "I can get you—"

"Take care of my baby," she gurgled, coughing hard enough to almost toss her body around in the minor crater she lay in, where the pavement had been until a few moments ago. "Promise me."

"We're gonna get you—" he tried again, and braced himself to pick her up.

"Promise me!" She screamed, coughing violently.

"I promise! I promise!" he cried out, hoping that saying so would calm her down, "On my honor as a martial-artist, I promise I'll take care of your baby! Now we've gotta—"

It was as far as he got before he watched the life leak out of her eyes, and her head loll to the side. "Lady?" he called to her automatically, knowing immediately that she was too far away to hear him now.

"What'd you do to her?" Ryoga growled at him. The other boy's voice was gruff with anger, but heavily laced with worry and concern.

"What'd _I_ do to her?" Ranma whirled on him, his voice not at all calm. "I didn't do anything! I tried to protect her- she was pushing away from me!"

"Maybe you shouldn't have tried to grab her—" Ryoga began before Ranma cut him off.

"Me? Maybe if you hadn't used the _Bakusai Tenketsu_, this wouldn't happened!"

"Maybe if you hadn't run away—"

"Maybe if you would have listened!—"

The two martial artists shouted at one another, but they were both cut off by a growing wail from the baby still lightly clutched in the mother's arms. Almost spellbound in a sense of unreal numbness, Ranma gently picked up the baby, cradling him to his own chest, which only calmed the baby somewhat.

"What am I gonna do?" he asked Ryoga, though a part of him didn't expect an answer from the Eternal Lost Boy.

"You promised," Ryoga shot back at him, his voice suddenly without heat.

Ranma swallowed.

In the distance, finally, was the faint sound of sirens.


	2. Denial of Service

Growing Pains

Denial of Service

…from the previous chapter…

"_What am I gonna do?" he asked Ryoga, though a part of him didn't expect an answer from the Eternal Lost Boy._

"_You promised," Ryoga shot back at him, his voice suddenly without heat._

_Ranma swallowed. _

_In the distance, finally, was the faint sound of sirens._

Almost in a daze, Ranma pushed open the gate to the Tendo compound.

It had been a long three hours since the police had arrived near the hair styling shop where the world had changed. Where _his_ world had changed. Where a woman had gotten caught in the crossfire between two of Nerima's best, and died in a puddle of her own blood, and left him the father of her orphaned child. It was surprising that the police had left the child with him; once he'd told them his story, of his promise to the woman, they seemed content to allow him to carry out that promise. It also surprised him that the police didn't try to arrest him; he wasn't prone towards being around dead people, but he was sure that being part of the reason she was dead was because of him.

That had been another reason for his current feeling of confusion, disbelief and surrealism. He hadn't even known her name, until one of the officers on the scene offered to take him to her home—a typically small apartment that was pretty much a living room and bedroom, a small kitchen area to cook, and a bathroom that held the toilet inside of the shower stall—to pick up whatever things that he might need to take care of the baby. Somewhere in that time, the baby had cried for attention at least twice that he could remember; the first time he'd simply babbled a bit at the baby until it had calmed down and gone back to sleep; the second time had been while he'd been in the apartment, where at the suggestion of the police officer, he'd found a prepared bottle of milk and fed the child.

The police car drove off behind him as the pig-tailed boy stepped through the gate, and fortunately for him it was Kasumi who found him first, though unfortunately Akane wasn't too far behind her.

"Ranma?"

He lifted his eyes to take in the visage of the eldest Tendo daughter, Kasumi. Her wide-eyed look at him made him wonder just what _else_ could go wrong today.

"Are you all right?" she asked him, her voice soft and quiet, her brow furrowing slightly. That was almost a shout and a glare from anyone else. "And may I ask whose baby you have in your arms?"

"Baby?" came the cry from Akane, striding out of the front door towards he and Kasumi. "What baby?" She swung around from behind her elder sister, and for a few moments, simply stared at Ranma in surprise. 

"Uh, um," he stammered, "I guess it's mine, now." He didn't have too tight a grasp on the situation, but he knew enough to know that things were already ugly, and likely only going to get more so, with Akane in the picture. Honestly, though, he could have chosen a different way of opening that particular box of trouble.

"Yours?" both women chorused, and while their surprise was identical, their responses couldn't have been more different. Kasumi was surprised, her voice expressing disbelief in a quiet, gentle, awaiting-information manner, while Akane was surprised, her voice expressing its disbelief in a loud, antagonistic, judgmental manner.

"Who'd you get pregnant?" Akane snapped at him, and then immediately turned towards Kasumi. "See? I told you that jerk couldn't be trusted! I told you he sleeps around with all those bimbos and here's the proof! He got some tramp pregnant, and now he's got a baby! A baby!" She turned back towards him, glaring angrily.

"Akane, would you listen—" he began, before the aforementioned short-tempered girl cut him off.

"I bet she finally got tired of dealing with your lying and cheating, too," she snarled at him, growing increasingly angry, letting that anger seep into her voice and her stance. He could see her working herself into a righteous fury, and he was pretty sure that her mallet wouldn't be too far behind. Fortunately, he was holding a baby in his arms, and he was pretty sure Akane would at least wait until he was empty-handed before trying to hit him.

"Akane, it's not like that! If you'd lis—"

"Why should I listen to you?" she nearly shouted at him, "I've always said that you can't be trusted, and here's the living proof! And I bet you expect that _we're_ gonna just say that all is forgiven and that we'll let you bring that 'poor, innocent little baby' into our home and take care of it for you? I don't think so! _I'm_ certainly not gonna let that happen, and I don't think Daddy will be too happy, either. So why don't you take your precious little bundle of cheating back to its mother?"

"Her mother is dead," he shot back at her, his emotions flaring up briefly at Akane's accusations, his guilt at the woman's death following almost immediately behind. He glanced down at the baby in his arms, the little child beginning to stir from all of the noise, especially from him. _He_ was responsible for the death of her mother, and so it only seemed right that he was now responsible for the life of her. He had no idea of even what her name was, what her mother had named her, but he would give her a name. He would give her _his_ name.

His outburst gave Akane a moment's pause, a look of surprise and momentary chagrin sweeping across her features, before they hardened into another scowl. "So go drop it off at somebody's temple; we aren't taking in any more strays, especially children born from cheating fiancées," she growled at him, and turned to stalk back into the house.

"But I didn't cheat on you!" he protested, his face clearly showing his frustration and confusion with her. "Would you just listen to me—"

"No!" she stopped long enough to whirl to face in his direction. "You've flirted with other girls in front of my face, you've groped and fondled them without even the decency to call off the engagement, and now you want to push your ill-begotten baby onto my family? Go rot!"

He stared after her as she whirled around again and stomped off into the house, mouth opened to speak, but silenced by quiet shock and outrage. Through his exchange with Akane, Kasumi stood to the side, watching the two of them argue. Now she leveled a slightly disapproving look his way.

"Damnit!" he swore, and then flushed, realizing what he'd just said- both because it was in front of Kasumi, and because it was in front of the baby. Which he was more embarrassed about, even he wasn't sure.

"Language, Ranma," Kasumi corrected him automatically, and he turned his gaze her way.

"Kasumi, I swear to ya, I didn't cheat on Akane!" he pled with her, imploring her with his eyes to believe him.

"But Ranma," she began quietly, taking a couple more steps towards him, putting her just outside of arms' reach, "You return from being gone for much of the day, and you know how Akane reacts to your teasing of Hibiki-san; you return from being gone, carrying a baby, and then you tell us that it is your child; what more would you expect Akane to think?" She paused for a moment, and then continued, "Is there something more, or something different, from how that seems?"

"Kasumi, would _you_ listen to me, at least?" he sighed gently. He shifted the rapidly growing restless child in his arms, very softly rocking her back and forth. "I mean, even if Akane's just gonna Olympic-jump to conclusions all the time, will you listen, before you decide I'm cheating on her?"

"Alright," Kasumi allowed, reinforcing her agreement with a nod of her head, "I'm listening."

Ranma quickly told her the story of how the woman had been caught in the cross-fire between he and Ryoga, and what he had promised to do. Kasumi looked at him with horror—which he thought was directed at him for his part in the woman's death—and then with maternal concern.

"Oh, Ranma," she sighed quietly. "I'm soo sorry to hear about what happened; I don't think badly of you for promising to take care of her baby."

"Yeah," he sighed heavily, sounding rather suspiciously as if he wanted to cry. "It's my fault her mother's dead."

"No, no no, Ranma," Kasumi moved even closer, putting a hand on his arm, offering him comfort, "It is a terrible, awful thing that your fight with Ryoga resulted in someone dying, but the truth of it all is that you are not to blame. Her mother was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it is unfortunate that that was during a fight between you and Hibiki-san."

The baby chose that moment, at the end of Kasumi's commentary, to decide that enough was enough, and she was tired and cranky. Or hungry. Or wet. Whichever it was, Ranma didn't know, and the only thing he could do was give a slightly panicked look, first towards the baby, and then towards Kasumi. The panicked expression shifted to a pained one then, as he gave a quick glance towards the house.

"I know you don't have to do anything for this baby I promised I'd take care of," he began quietly, "but she don't deserve ta be left out in the cold, and even if it ain't for me, can I ask ta at least stay the night here? I'll sleep in the dojo; I just don't want anyone else ta suffer 'cause of me." He spoke his last, looking down at the fussy bundle of baby cradled in his arms.

Kasumi gave him a slightly despairing look, before her own features softened into something more gentle and resigned. "I wouldn't have you sleeping in the dojo with a baby," she began herself, "and since grandfather Happosai is out traveling, you can stay there with her. His room is rather quiet, and I don't think the baby would disturb anyone's rest, there."

Ranma offered the eldest Tendo sister a wan smile. "Thanks, Kasumi. I really owe you."

"It isn't exactly proper," she returned, "but she… but your _daughter_ needs a warm place to sleep, and the dojo isn't the right place for her." She gave a bit of a sigh, and then began to turn to go back into the house. "If you need any help," she offered, slightly over her shoulder, "please ask; as you said, there's no need for her to suffer."

And with that, Kasumi lightly strode back into the house.

Notes:

Dumbledork: That won't happen; but I have something a bit more fitting for him.

Chi Vayne: Yes, there _will_ be consequences. Just wait and see.

Cabrera1234: Well, you've got one out of two, as I'm sure you have read by now.

James Birdsong: That's pretty much par for the course.

This won't be a very long story- I'm thinking perhaps in the neighborhood of 9 –12 chapters. I'll post a chapter when I have the one ahead of it finished, so that I'm writing with at least one in the bank.

This story will mostly center on Ranma- and his interactions with the other characters, but those interactions will either be as brief as possible, or off-screen. I'm trying to keep him- and everyone else- as in-character _as possible_, so read with that in mind, please.

And please, feel free to review!

This story will be updated when possible.


	3. To Be a Man

Growing Pains

To Be a Man

…from the previous chapter…

"I know you don't have to do anything for this baby I promised I'd take care of," he began quietly, "but she don't deserve ta be left out in the cold, and even if it ain't for me, can I ask ta at least stay the night here? I'll sleep in the dojo; I just don't want anyone else ta suffer 'cause of me." He spoke his last, looking down at the fussy bundle of baby cradled in his arms.

_Kasumi gave him a slightly despairing look, before her own features softened into something more gentle and resigned. "I wouldn't have you sleeping in the dojo with a baby," she began herself, "and since grandfather Happosai is out traveling, you can stay there with her. His room is rather quiet, and I don't think the baby would disturb anyone's rest, there."_

_Ranma __offered__ the__ eldest __Tendo__ sister __a__ wan __smile.__ "__Thanks, __Kasumi.__ I__ really__ owe __you.__"_

* * *

><p>The morning light slowly brightening the room revealed a Ranma who looked almost as tired as he had the previous night, but for the fact that his eyes were closed and his breathing was light and even. On the futon at his side, separated by a mountain of bed clothes that surrounded and protected her was the little baby girl he had unofficially adopted, sleeping the sleep of an innocent.<p>

For Ranma, it was a well-earned rest- if not well-deserved; his first task of the night had been to take down all of Happosai's "treasures" which adorned the walls, and most of every other vertical surface in the room. Putting them in the closet was the only choice he'd had, and even then he'd discovered that the old troll had had quite a few pair already stashed away… a few _hundred_ pair, at least. He'd shuddered at having to deal with anything "grandfather" had left around in his room, but one look at the baby lying on the futon where he'd settled her had convinced him that he needed to look past himself, to do what he needed for the baby.

In another part of the house, he could hear the muted sounds of Akane being upset, so he'd concluded that Kasumi had sought to explain to her just why he'd been let back inside. Again, he'd taken a look at the little girl whose life he felt he was now responsible for, and decided that he was just about ready to suffer anything that came his way, to spare her what he could.

After that, had come the task of changing her. _That_had taken a bit of time to figure out, and then a call of help to Kasumi to actually get her changed. And hadn't _that_ been a revelation to him; while he'd _known_ about the… *ahem* differences, between males and females, and even though he sometimes _knew_ those differences, it was a different matter altogether to actually _see_ those differences, up close and personal as it was as he watched- and listened to the instructions that she gave him- as the eldest Tendo daughter changing his _daughter._

And wasn't _that_ something to get used to, too? His _daughter_. Already, it was becoming easier for him to see her as being his responsibility.

And then there were the feedings during the middle of the night. Two of them, in fact, and then yet another changing of her diaper, _without_ Kasumi's help this time. Thankfully, he'd managed.

And somewhere during the night, he'd found a name for her: Sakura. Why that particular name had come to him, especially in the midst of a brief but intense spate of angry wailing when he hadn't been quick enough to present her with her meal, he had yet to question himself about. It was approaching dawn when Sakura had finally seemed to settle in for the night, and almost blissfully, he'd collapsed, asleep before he could take even three breaths.

When Kasumi had awakened him a few hours later—and he was thankful that it was a Saturday, that he had been afforded the luxury of sleeping in—he'd asked her if she would keep an eye on Sakura for a short while, while he went out to get some advice on how to raise her. He did his best to soothe Kasumi's slight frown at that, telling her that he needed more than one set of ideas, in order to be the best father for his daughter that he could be, and that had caused the eldest Tendo daughter's slight frown to become a warm, compassionate smile.

In telling her that, however, he wasn't focused on _why_ Kasumi was smiling so, or really even that she _was_ smiling; it was the realization that he was a father now, at least in his own way of thinking. He'd given the baby a name, he'd given her a name of his choosing, and he was now making decisions for her that would affect her life. And his. And suddenly he knew that he wasn't up to the task. Not yet, at least. He'd planned to go and talk to Ukyou about what had happened, to see what she thought; of all of his friends and so-called friends, she was usually the most level-headed, and the most likely one to be willing to help him figure out what might be best for Sakura—but now he knew he had to include Cologne, no matter how much he despised the thought; she had knowledge from her years of living, and even if he despised her, even if he wished he didn't have to, he knew that for Sakura's sake, for the sake of his daughter, the child he'd vowed he would take care of, he would do anything, or very nearly so. In that light, the thought of talking to Cologne was an unpleasant one, but bearable.

And then an even more overwhelming thought crossed his mind.

He'd have to think about the things he did from now own. Think about them a great deal, and admittedly, thinking wasn't often his strong suit when it came to things non-martial-art related. He'd have to consider the consequences of what he did, for Sakura's sake. He'd have to stop getting into risky situations. He'd have to pay attention to a lot more than just fighting. He'd have to deal with all the chaos in his life, before said chaos affected Sakura, or worst, got her hurt. He'd have to put Sakura's needs before everything else in his life.

He'd have to grow up.

* * *

><p>Ranma grumbled to himself, the Cat Café in sight now. His musings regarding who he was about to speak to were colored by the memories of the 'who' he had just spoken to.<p>

Overall, Ukyou had _not_ taken the matter well. She'd been quietly, vaguely sympathetic to the idea of Sakura when he explained how he'd 'adopted' her, and what he'd come to conclude that he needed to do for her. And then she'd tipped his thoughts about her and how she seemed to understand things on its head with what she'd said after that.

_Well,__ you__ don__'__t_ have_ to__ keep __it,_ Ukyou had said of Sakura, _she__'__s__ not_ really_ your__ daughter. __Why__ not__ give __her__ to__ a__ real__ adoption __agency?__ Kami__ knows__ you__'__re__ not__ parent__ material-__ I__ mean,__ not__ right_ now_,__ not__ with__ all__ of__ the__ problems__ in__ your __life.__ And __you __can__ be__ a__ parent __for __real __when__ we__ finally__ get__ married, __right?_

It was as if his ears had been finally hearing what he hadn't been hearing up until now. Sakura wasn't an 'it', and while he probably wasn't 'parent material', to hear Ukyou talking about being a 'parent for real' when he married her, caused him to look at her in a way that Ukyou had mistaken for a kind of "why didn't I think of that?" type surprise. It was as if she were so focused on the idea of marrying him, that she wasn't willing to look at anything else that didn't fit into her plans.

And that had settled the matter for him.

Ukyou wasn't someone he could trust to help him with Sakura.

Hence, Cologne.

He sighed again, reaching the front door of the shop, and opened the door.

The lunch rush had just passed, and the dinner rush was still about an hour or so away, and so the restaurant was rather quiet. That being the case, the ringing of the bell, signifying his arrival, was loud enough to attract attention.

Mu Tzu was the first to notice him, and for once the myopic dark-haired Chinese boy had his thick glasses down over his eyes.

"_You,__"_ he all but snarled at him, "What do _you_ want here? Shampoo will never be your—"

A bonbori thumped rather heavily against the back of his head, and he staggered with the blow, howling in pain.

["You idiot!"] Xian Pu commented in Chinese, ["Why do you keep attacking my intended? He's smarter than you, he's better looking than you, he's a better warrior than you, and there's nothing you'll be able to do that will make me want _you_! Leave him alone!"]

["But Xian Pu!"] the Chinese boy whined back, ["He doesn't love you! _I_ love you! Why won't you give me a chance to show you?"]

The lavender-haired teenaged woman responded by bashing him across the head once again with the smooth-metal mace.

"Mousse leave Airen alone!" she screamed at him, no longer in Chinese, and the aforementioned boy growled back at her as he staggered back towards the kitchen- where a moment later another loud thump was heard, muffled through the door, resulting in another cry of pain.

"Nihao, airen!" the girl turned back to him, her eyes bright and a wide smile gracing her rather attractive features.

Ranma grimaced, but tried to keep at least some of his feelings from showing on his face. "Hey," he replied diffidently.

"Airen come to take Shampoo on date, yes?" she asked in her broken Japanese. With a bit of new thought, Ranma wondered for a moment if the Chinese girl was really that awful with her Japanese, or if she talked like that on purpose, to make people think she wasn't very smart. Then he gave a mental shrug; it didn't matter- his business was with her great-grandmother, Cologne.

The pig-tailed boy shook his head. "I need to speak to the old ghoul," he returned, partially a disgusted growl, partially a pleading whine.

"But then you take Shampoo out on date, yes?" she persisted.

He opened his mouth to protest—though exactly what he was going to say, he wasn't sure of—but was saved from his usual foot-in-mouth disease by the swinging of the kitchen door and the arrival of the aforementioned old ghoul, Kuh Lon.

"I hear you've come to see me, son-in-law?" the diminutive older woman offered a old person's toothy grin. "Have you finally seen the futility of your struggles, and come to broker a peace by returning to China with us?" As usual, she was balanced masterfully atop her staff, placing her eye to eye with the martial arts master.

"I… I need some advice, I think," he said reluctantly, sighing quietly. "I need to talk to you, Kuh Lon-san." He was careful to do his best to pronounce her name rather than simply mash it together as he was wont to, and placed the Japanese honorific to show her the extent of his need.

The elder amazon gently lifted an eyebrow at him, seemingly studying him for a few moments. "A serious subject, I take it?" she offered, still with that disturbing smile in place, but a more focused look in her eyes now.

He didn't reply, but the slight blush coupled with a slight frown seemed to tell the tale for him.

Kuh Lon turned towards her great-granddaughter. ["Xian Pu? Please bring some green tea to us, just a simple tea this time, and make sure mister part-timer doesn't interrupt us."]

["Yes, great-grandmother,"] Xian Pu returned, and practically bounced back towards the kitchen.

Kuh Lon turned back to face him. "Shall we?" she smiled softly—and still rather disturbingly—and gestured towards one of the tables in the decently-sized restaurant, near the rear corner. Ranma gestured for the elder to proceed him, as much out of an attempt at manners as it was a not-quite subtle expression of his lack of full trust in her. Kuh Lon cackled in response, and hopped down off of her staff to stride towards the indicated table, her steps and her walk much more smooth and spritely than one of her age usually moved.

Ranma sat down after Kuh Lon, and the pair sat in relative silence for the two minutes that it took for Xian Pu to return with the tea service, and set it down before them—right before taking a seat next to her great-grandmother.

The pig-tailed boy grimaced.

"Can we talk alone?" he asked of the elder woman, and gave a rather pointed look at Xian Pu.

Kuh Lon gave a quiet, slight sigh.

["Leave us, child,"] she told her young relative, causing the girl to frown at being dismissed. ["Keep an eye on Mu Tzu, and do not disturb us. I'll let you know what we discuss, if it should concern our efforts to woe son-in-law."] Xian Pu didn't look at all pleased at being sent away, but the Chinese girl did as she was bidden. Once she had slipped back into the kitchen, the elder turned to regard the boy once again.

"So you seek me for advice," she smirked at him, warmly yet only just holding onto her mirth at the gentle irony of the situation.

"Yeah, about that…" he began, "It ain't like I _wanted_ ta come to ya, I mean, no offense, but we ain't never been friends. You an' Shampoo, always tryin' ta find some way ta get me to marry her—"

"You and she are already married, by our laws," Kuh Lon interrupted.

"And that's part of my point!" Ranma interjected, before she could go on, "You don't get it, that just cuz it's your laws, you think you can make everyone obey _your_ laws! It don't work like that! An even if it did, you didn't even _ask_ me if I wanted ta go along with it! You just assume that cuz I'm just a male, that I ain't got no say in things! That's just as screwed up as if I was a guy, and I said that girls were useless without a man around!" He caught himself short at that, his words a sudden revelation of profound proportions- not only about how he had acted in much the same way, but more ardently, about how he needed _not_ to pass that idea onto Sakura.

"And yet, you _do_ think that a man is a stronger, more capable fighter than a woman, do you not?" Kuh Lon asked in a calm tone.

Ranma opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, before commenting. "I did," he admitted, giving the elder woman a brief nod. "I used to. But I just got a wake up call about that." He frowned a bit, and pursed his lips some. "And I think that works ta what I wanted to ask you about." He fell silent again for a few moments, thinking about what he wanted to say.

"I may not trust ya, but I do respect ya," he began slowly. "You're a strong, capable lady, and of all the folks in Nerima who could…I mean, well…" He grimaced again, sighed, and then plunged ahead, "You're one of the folks here who I can't beat. A girl- a woman, I mean. And that means something. Ta me. It's…it's big. It makes me stop and think. And I don't wanna be the kinda guy who can't handle somethin' like that. I gotta grow up."

Kuh Lon offered a gentle smile at that. "And you seek me out, for advice on 'growing up', you say?"

"Kinda," he offered, growing a bit more nervous now that the matter was at hand. "I also took on some responsibilities, and I gotta grow up ta handle 'em." He paused, and then told the elder his brief story- how he came to be Sakura's father, how he had decided to love her, to take care of her, and to do what he needed to, in order to raise her properly; of how he felt less than able to the task, of how much he knew he didn't know, and of how he desperately wanted to what was right by this new life he was responsible for.

Kuh Lon listened, though it was clear that she was surprised by his revelation of Sakura. Ranma watched as that surprise gave way to a small smile, which grew as he told more of his own wants to be the best father for his new daughter that he could.

"Why, sonny boy!" the elder woman cackled at last, "the best place for the both of you would be China! Not only would you have the kind of assistance and support that you desperately need, you would have the advice of the other males raising the children of the tribe, and your…daughter, would be surrounded by other children who could give her the balance of understanding what a strong woman she could become, unadulterated by the influences of this barbaric male-influenced society."

Ranma almost, _almost_ said the first thing to come to mind at that, but a part of him newly awakened by the thoughts of what would be best for Sakura—and part of what would be best for her, meant that he had to consider what would be best for him, as the main parental figure in her life, as well—made him pause, made him listen, made him think, before he spoke.

"So I should return to China with you and Shampoo and Mousse, with Sakura, so she can get away from a… society, that you don't like, so I can raise my _daughter_ in another… society? that _I_ don't like, where she'd turn into someone like you? who thinks that someone like me, a mere _male_, is just good for raising children and staying at home, and where her father is treated like a second-class citizen, someone she can't really look up to because he's _just_ a male?"

His words began with at least a modicum of civility, but by the end of his statement, he was nearly yelling. Only his desire to not have Xian Pu and Mu Tzu barging into the dining area, wanting to know what was going on—and likely causing even more trouble—kept his tone below shouting.

"Thank you for the idea, Kuh Lon-san, but I would rather learn how to raise her to be a strong woman, surrounded by this…society, to learn how to be strong even with a baka for a father who thinks like I do, than put her somewhere where she can't learn about the whole world, where all she is, is a big fish in a little pond. I want her to be _better_ than me, and even better than _you_, not that I mean anything awful by that, but I want her to be _the_ best. Better than me, _smarter_ than me, able to do _anything_ she can think of. And she can't be that, if she's stuck in some Amazon village, only learning how to be the strongest fighter."

He sighed, and then went on, "I'm pretty sure she can learn lots from you Amazons that she can't learn here, but there's lots she can learn here, too, that she _can__'__t_ learn from you Amazons. I want her to have the best I can give her, not just my own…not just what I learned, and not just what being an Amazon could be."

He paused, and looked with a tired, pleading look at the elder woman. "I want to be the best father I can be. Maybe going to China _might_ be it, but until _I_ can see that, until I've tried everything I can to do right by her, right here, I won't do it."

Kuh Lon sat back, surprised- and yet not- by the vehemence in his tone. "I see," she intoned solemnly. He could almost see her considering what he'd said, and trying to fit it into what she wanted for him.

Ranma frowned again slightly, his lips thinning out into a line. "You see me fighting you again," he said, analyzing the situation. "You see that I don't wanna go with you to China. You see that I don't wanna make life easy for you and Shampoo by simply giving up."

Ranma stood up from the table at that. He sighed, a sound more frustrated now than angry. "But I don't give up. I fight. It's about the only thing I'm really good at. And I'm fighting to try and do the best I can for my daughter. You _don__'__t_ see that."

And with that, he turned, and walked out of the café.

Kasumi puttered about the kitchen, humming a pleasant tune as she prepared to make dinner for the family. In a baby carrier she'd borrowed from a neighbor sat Sakura, burbling happily, as a baby could.

The pig-tailed martial artist sighed heavily as he returned to the Tendo home. "I'm back, Kasumi," he called out to her. "Are Nabiki and Akane here?" he continued, as he wandered into the kitchen, guessing—correctly—that it would be likely where he'd find her.

"Akane is out with her friends," Kasumi turned and responded to him, smiling softly, "And Nabiki is not here." It went without saying that the father's hadn't returned yet, or they would have been the first to greet him at the door, howling at him for daring to upset Soun's darling little spoiled princess.

"Thank you for watching Sakura for me," he sighed quietly, with a tired smile. "I hope she wasn't a bother."

"No, she was no bother," Kasumi offered a warm smile. "So did you get any of the advice you were seeking?"

Ranma sighed, and shook his head. "Maybe I should be asking you for advice," he said at length. "Maybe when you have a few minutes?"

"Alright," Kasumi replied. "I'll be with you shortly."

* * *

><p>Okay- authors notes:<p>

For everyone in general: No, no one _yet_ blames Ryoga for the death of Sakura's mother. Ranma has mostly focused on the fact that her mother was killed in an accident during their fight, not that it was Ryoga's special attack that led to the woman dying.

Hero in a cup: *evil grin* You'll get to see those things happen. Just be patient.

Blackholelord: Part of what you discussed is in the next chapter- written already before you commented on it, so you'll soon get to see what it is you've wondered about.

And just in case no one has noticed yet, yes, there is a bit of character bashing of just about everyone in the manga. At the same time, it is something of a reflection of the way Takahashi has portrayed the characters—they are generally one-dimensional, and only now is Ranma seeing this for himself.


	4. Brain Power

Growing Pains

Brain Power

…from the previous chapter…

"_Thank you for watching Sakura for me," he sighed quietly, with a tired smile. "I hope she wasn't a bother."_

"_No, she was no bother," Kasumi offered a warm smile. "So did you get any of the advice you were seeking?"_

_Ranma sighed, and shook his head. "Maybe I should be asking you for advice," he said at length. "Maybe when you have a few minutes?"_

"_Alright," Kasumi replied. "I'll be with you shortly."_

Ranma was left reeling by the time he was through speaking with Kasumi that afternoon, his thoughts bombarded from ideals and concepts and facts that he hadn't known, or was suddenly aware he needed more information on. Kasumi had really woken him up to the fact of just how ill-prepared he was for being a father, and yet, he was now more determined than ever to do what he could, to become the best father he could possibly be.

It had started out innocently enough; once Kasumi had finished with her tasks in the kitchen, she'd come into the main living area and sat down near him, as he was beginning to change Sakura's diaper. He had made what seemed to be a mistake, by asking Kasumi a question about what he'd seen between the little girl's legs.

That had begun a lesson in anatomy, and when he couldn't answer the question that she asked afterwards:

"You _do_ know where babies come from and how they're made, do you not?"

Kasumi had given him a most _thorough_ talk about the anatomy and physiology of the 'birds and the bees'.

That bit of talk had segued into a brief discussion and exchange on how the female body differed from the male body—and not just by the presence or lack of certain body parts—but then on how such could be applied to the body. That had given him the revelation of just how Doctor Tofu had used pressure point medicine to help heal patients, and how he himself could affect the body, having learned a few pressure points and techniques from the doctor. That had led into martial arts, and when Kasumi had begun mentioning how mathematics and history and business and philosophy had components into the Art, he'd had to finally call it a day, at least for that moment, and he'd walked to the guest room, Sakura in her baby carrier at his side, his thoughts awhirl.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he _knew_ some of these things, but hearing that even Kasumi had a broader knowledge of the Art than he, even if she didn't practice, and that she could apply other subjects, subjects he'd thought had little to no bearing on his life, subjects that his father had relentlessly pounded into his head that he needed not to concern himself about, into the Art and make it richer than he'd ever imagined, had made him decide that he needed to apply himself, that growing up, especially for Sakura's sake, meant that he would have to take his education a lot more seriously than before.

He'd spent the next few hours reading—something that many in Nerima would have thought to be like kryptonite to him. His incredible learning curve when it came to martial arts, he discovered, was almost as impressive with school learning, when he put his mind to it, and while he couldn't make up for years of mis-education in one afternoon, he had managed to _learn_ the basics in mathematics, anatomy and science that had just eluded him before. Every piece of information he learned and retained, simply made him want to learn more, now that he knew that he could find ways to apply it to martial arts.

And, when he thought about it some more, for Sakura.

He knew he wasn't the smartest person in the world. While he was the best at martial arts, he could easily count the number of other folks who were smarter than he was; Akane might not be the best fighter, but she didn't have much in the way of trouble in class; Nabiki was almost scary-smart, compared to him and even her sister, and even if she couldn't fight at all, she knew how to defend herself. And Kasumi, while not exactly of the same kind of smarts as Nabiki, was definitely more than a little ahead of him. Ukyou; Mu Tzu; Kuh Lon—all were smarter than he in many areas, and as he thought about it, he realized that being a father wasn't something he could do all by himself, at least not now. He would need someone he could rely on to help him, really _help_ him—and Sakura—and not only look out for their own best interests. There was only one person who currently fit into that category, though even then, he would still need more help.

That person wouldn't be Akane, he knew, as the melodious sounds of her righteous anger floated through the walls like nails on a chalk board, and a few short moments after that, he could hear footsteps lightly but rapidly striding towards him. He didn't need to reach out with his ki sense to know that his father and Tendo-san were both headed in his direction; those same senses _did_ dell him though, that Akane wasn't very far behind the two men.

When the door to the guest room slid open with a muted thud, Ranma was ready.

Genma Saotome wasn't the most observant person in the world; not that he was prone to being caught flat-footed, but if it wasn't an immediate threat to his life, liberty and pursuit of happiness—especially his own—he was sometimes likely to suffer that debilitating foot-in-mouth disease that often struck the males of the Saotome clan, and say or do something incredibly stupid.

Soun Tendo was the more observant of the two, between he and his friend Genma, but his Will was the weaker by far, and so whenever his good friend came up with an idea, despite his own judgment on the matter he often found himself agreeing with it, and going right along with it.

The combination of the two males- one headstrong and somewhat selfish and self-serving, and one weaker of will and willing to be led into the heart of trouble, had been the major cause of the problems between their offspring, though if asked, Genma would vehemently deny such a commentary before Soun could offer any potential agreement and his own view on the matter.

On this particular day, however, Soun had asserted his weaker will to successful effect, remarking that since it was his home that was being 'invaded'- so to speak- that he should have the point position when he and Genma confronted the boy, and so he was the first to push open the door and take note of said boy standing in front of him.

The fact that Ranma was glowing—lightly, but in the visible spectrum—gave him immediate pause, and Genma nearly bowled him over as he just about ran into him from behind.

"If you wake her," Ranma growled in a tight, low voice, "whatever Happosai ever did to you will be a picnic compared to what I'll do."

It was a pity that only Soun heard him, and understood the true menace in his tone of voice and the tension of his body.

"Boy!" Genma veritably yelled at Ranma from behind Soun—and even as he was speaking, he was gently shoving his friend out of the way—"put aside this foolishness! Get rid of that…that… _baby_, and go apologize to your fiancé!"

"I gave my word, Pops, on my _honor_, that I would take care of Sakura and raise her as my daughter," he tried, but Genma was determined to try and steamroll over him.

"Boy, just drop it off at the local shrine! Someone will take care of it, and then you can make nice with Akane! Go do your duty to our family!" he shouted.

Ranma gave him an incredulous look.

"So are you telling me," Ranma looked at him, a wild angry expression to his features, "that I should just _abandon_ this child, _my_ child, my own _honor_, for family honor? to please Akane?"

"Er…yes?" Genma blurted, and then drove right through the moment of hesitation his brain was suggesting, "Yes, yes boy! That's it! Family obligations come before any thing else!"

Ranma gave the pair of males, one with his head swinging between himself and his best friend, watching the escalation of trouble with a growing look of horror, and the other seemingly proud in his own sense of self-aggrandizement, and his expression shifted from the wildly angered look, to a measured frown.

"Tell me," he said evenly, though with a hard edge to his words and tone, "that you are joking."

"Boy, get rid of that baby!" Genma growled.

Sakura startled, and then began to cry.

Ranma's eyes began to glow as he pulled his ki-aura back into himself. Slowly, he raised his arms, bringing his hands together, and lacing his fingers, cracked his knuckles. Those knuckles, then curled into fists. "You woke the baby. Now you will feel pain."

Fortunately, while Akane wasn't exactly thrilled for the presence of a baby in the house, she didn't leave the baby alone in the room as he pounced on his father and then tossed him out of the opened window, quickly following after him. He took his time—all of five minutes (which when in the midst of a very intense fight, can seem like an hour)—to almost clinically dissect his father's defense and render him painfully immobile, before leaving the older man sprawled out on the ground, as he leapt back up into the window of the room.

He was greeted by the presence of not only Akane, but of Kasumi now was well, the former looking with a thoughtful frown across her face, the latter smiling gently at Sakura.

The moment Akane realized that he had returned, she stood up with an angry hmph and a snarl, and stalked out of the room. He called out a hasty thank you to her retreating back, earning him a dismissive and almost rude gesture. He sighed, as he turned to regard the room's other adult occupant.

"Kasumi, I dunno if I can do this," he sighed quietly, a faint whine slipping into his voice; he squelched that bit of weakness, and continued, "I dunno if I can be a father with stuff like this going on around me." He strode over towards Kasumi and Sakura, his eyes only on the little baby girl, who looked up at him and cooed softly. Gently, almost reverently, he picked her up, looking her in the eyes, feeling a part of him that he'd only become aware of the previous day, settling quietly within him as he held her.

"What do you mean?" he heard, and looked up to see Kasumi looking back at him, a curious mixture of confusion and…expectation? in her expression.

He thought for a moment, until the answer solidified itself for him.

"I think I'm gonna have to find a place for me and Sakura; I think we'll have to move out."

Author's Notes: We're nearing the halfway point of the story- I did say that it was short, and I've written past the halfway point as of this posting.

DiMeraslover- Ryoga will get his, worry not- but this is about Ranma, so bear with me.

Phoenixir- This is a Ranma 1/2 story- what do you think will happen? *grin*

Hero In A Cup- I thought that this was the best way for Ranma to grow up, and yet remain 'organic', or 'in-character'.

For those who've been asking about when Ryoga will get his just desserts- worry not; he will. No one who knows that he was present for 'events' has forgotten about his involvement. I'll remind you all, though, that this is about Ranma and how he deals with what's been given unto him. Ryoga- as well as the other Nerimans- will only be spotlighted when their involvement is a part of, and filtered through, Ranma's new perspective.

And finally, if I haven't said it before, then I'll say it now: thank you all, those of you who read this story; it is a writer's paycheck, the praise and acknowledgement you give by reading.


	5. The Root of All Evil

Growing Pains

**The Root of All Evil**

…from the previous chapter…

"_Kasumi, I dunno if I can do this," he sighed quietly, a faint whine slipping into his voice; he squelched that bit of weakness, and continued, "I dunno if I can be a father with stuff like this going on around me." _

"_What do you mean?" he heard, and looked up to see Kasumi looking back at him, a curious mixture of confusion and…expectation? in her expression._

_He thought for a moment, until the answer solidified itself for him._

"_I think I'm gonna have to find a place for me and Sakura; I think we'll have to move out."_

* * *

><p>Kasumi spent quite a bit of time after that announcement, talking with him about the idea; first, to try to talk him out of the thought, though as they both hashed out a few of the reasons why it would be a good idea, her argument shifted from talking him out of moving out, to what steps he would need to take and what kind of considerations he would need to have in mind, and what help he would need to do what he was considering. Even in modern-day Japan, it wasn't all that common for a young man of his age to move out on his own, especially with a child. And single fathers were even more rare; he would have his work cut out for him.<p>

The more he talked with Kasumi, the more he began to see the complexity and enormity of the responsibility he had sought to undertake. A very small part of him had a moment of regret that he had been so quick and so unconcerned about taking on the task of raising a child, about making such a promise without thinking about the consequences and just how big a deal it would be, but the larger part of him pushed that thought to the side, savoring the newfound paternal feelings developing inside of him, glad that he had done not only the right thing, but that the right thing didn't feel much like a burden to him at all.

He knew, though, as he talked with Kasumi, as he could begin to sense just how much that one promise would forever alter his life, that he desperately needed to improve himself, to get the education that Akane and his peers often pressed him to get, but he also knew that merely working hard in school wouldn't be enough. Again, it came to him that he would need help. And he would need a job. Briefly he wondered how he would juggle school, work, a new place to live, sleep, and a baby; the sheer weight of the idea, however, sent his mental OS into a 'sleep mode', and he decided that he'd manage, and wouldn't think too much more about it until he had to.

Money, though… that was something he could do something about, or at least he knew someone he could go see…

Ranma spent another couple of hours studying, the prowess of his mental acuity which had previously only been spent studying martial arts, now devoted towards self-improvement over all. He'd only been interrupted twice, once by his father, attempting to berate him all over again—and this time, not only for promising on his honor to take care of a child not borne of himself and Akane, but for trying to improve himself educationally—and then a second time by Sakura.

His father, he was nearly tired of dealing with. It seemed he wanted him to go to school, but not actually learn anything, lest he learn _too much_; just what was his father up to? he'd wondered a bit. Sakura, on the other hand, he was falling in love with. Oh, he definitely wasn't so smitten that he couldn't see that there would be times when he'd be overwhelmed by her, but on the whole, he couldn't see himself trading her away now, for anything. But he knew that in order to give her the best he could, he might have to trade away parts of himself and who he was. Like his pride; he'd definitely have to swallow that, admit that he wasn't the _best_- he'd already done it once, but he knew that it would be something he'd have to do more than just that once. Hell, dealing with Nabiki was likely to cost him quite a bit of his pride, but for Sakura's sake, he would do it, and try to do it with a smile.

* * *

><p>"Come in," a sultry yet business-like voice called out.<p>

Quietly, he opened the door to Nabiki's room, stepped through, and then closed the door behind him again.

"So should I presume that you knocking on my door has something to do with the little brat you're hiding in your room?" she asked with a slight sneer to her tone.

"She ain't a brat; her name's Sakura and she's my _daughter_," he returned in a quiet, serious tone.

"Daughter, huh? So you're claiming her as your own?" Nabiki returned, her tone quiet, and thoughtful-_sounding_, but he could almost hear the thoughts of profit he was sure the middle-Tendo sister was thinking. "I bet that the other fiancées would love to hear about that, especially the Kunos—"

Almost as if he'd teleported to her side, he was practically in her face. It hadn't surprised him that she would think of how to turn the situation with Sakura to her own advantage and somehow make money or favors from it, but the subtle threat to expose her to others, especially the lunacy of the Kunos, was too far for him.

"I don't care if you threaten me, or if I end up in debt to you for the rest of my life," he growled to her surprised expression, as she was still reacting to the suddenness of how close he was to her, "but if anything you do, directly, _or indirectly_, hurts Sakura, I. Will. _Hurt_. You."

Nabiki looked at him with naked, undisguised shock for a heartbeat or two, before she covered her surprise with an almost bored look. "One, Saotome, you don't hit women, and two, you threatened me. _Me_. You can guarantee that you'll be paying for that one, for a _very_ long time."

He snorted. "One, _Tendo_, I don't _have_ to hit you; I can simply stop running guard between you and the Yakuza, and let them do it. And two, you threatened _my daughter_. I'm sure your own father would try to protect you from someone who threatened you; I'm just doing the same thing, so _bill me,_ but you _will_ leave Sakura out of the crap you throw my way."

Nabiki blinked at the Yakuza comment. "Yakuza?" she asked, trying—and failing—to hide her shock at the thought he had just exposed to her; even he could tell that what he'd said had her rattled.

"Yeah, the Yakuza; they—"

He stopped, and took a moment to think. "Now that's rich," he said, partly to himself, and then grinned. "I've got information that the great and powerful Nabiki Tendo would _love _to have." His smile grew, and even gained teeth. "Information that the great and powerful Nabiki Tendo could desperately need to have."

"You're bluffing," she snapped back at him; her mask had slipped again, and now he could see that she was upset.

"Try me," he snapped back, his smile dropping like a stone into the ocean. "Push me, Tendo, and I'll let them have you. You screw around with enough people, and eventually they'll want to screw you back."

Nabiki glared at him angrily for a few moments, before snapping at him again. "I don't believe you, Saotome," she returned quietly, but he could hear a slight tremble in her words. "What do you want?"

The pig-tailed boy smirked a bit, but the gesture didn't reach his eyes. "Just a couple of things, Tendo," he returned more quietly now. "First, I don't _want_ to act like this; I meant it when I said do what you want to me, just leave Sakura out of things. She's an innocent, Nabiki; she's just a baby. She don't deserve ta suffer the chaos in my life. I want her to have better. I want her to _be_ better. I want to do the best that I can to give her the kinda life I know she deserves, the kinda life me and Ryoga probably cost her by takin' her mother from her."

Nabiki lifted an eyebrow, her expression dubious.

"All I really wanted from you was some help, Nabs," he started, but stopped at a look from her.

"Nabs?" she lifted that eyebrow higher. "You're pushing it, Saotome."

He frowned slightly, pursing his lips. "All I wanted was a bit of help; I was even gonna let you bill me over it." He sighed softly, then smirked a bit. "But now it'll cost you; trade your help, for my info." His smirk faded. "They really are watching you, Tendo. You might not wanna miss hearin' it from me."

* * *

><p>Nabiki was very appropriately distressed—even though she tried to hide it—at the news that the Yakuza were more than passingly interested in her, and had made an attempt to get her to meet with one of their lieutenants. Ranma had run interference, and gotten her some time before they would approach her again. Armed with that knowledge, Nabiki almost forgave the aquasexually-cursed martial artist his debts; she definitely forgave a goodly percentage of them, for his basically saving her life—or at least that was how she saw the matter—and offered her help for his problem at no cost.<p>

For his part, Ranma only asked Nabiki for help in getting connected with resources regarding daycare for Sakura, as well as lodging for himself and the baby and potential places to work. [Nabiki almost facefaulted when she finally heard just what it was that Ranma wanted; she'd made a great deal out of something that would have cost her almost nothing to _give_, let alone to siphon money out of him.] She offered assurances that she would get back to him regarding the first two issues when she could, but she gave him the name of someone she knew who needed an employee, right away.

It wasn't until the next day when he was able to take advantage of the info Nabiki had given him. The pig-tailed boy found himself in front of a small warehouse on the edge of the greater Tokyo warehouse district, a two story building maybe twice the size of Dr. Tofu's clinic. It was an unpresuming building, a small sign on the front of the building the only indication that it was more than a simple building.

_Tengu_.

Ranma frowned slightly, and wondered who had decided to name the business after the Shinto kami, and if they understood what they were doing when they did it. He didn't ponder the thought long, though, and stepped through the doors of the building.

It was clear after a mere glance that this business was a dojo of some sort, and he spent a few moments looking around. Other than a small five meter by five meter section of floor in front of the door, the remainder of the floor was covered by nylon-covered foam mats.

On the wall opposite the door was a banner, in both Japanese and English; he could recognize the characters of the English language, and the main portion of the banner was a single words that he could read, but the remainder of the English was beyond him.

**H U R T**

We do our best to **HURT**

**Honor** – We strive to act with Honor

**Understanding** – We seek to Understand

**Respect** – We give respect, and we Respect ourselves

**Truth** – We live in Truth

The kanji for each concept was depicted just in front of each line of English, which gave him the understanding of what was listed. It was an interesting credo, he decided, before spotting a figure sitting in _seiza_ in the middle of the floor—where he would have sworn there was no one before.

That fact immediately threw him on his guard, his senses sharpening to keep him aware of any threats. That sharpening of awareness included his ki-sight, and he frowned again slightly as his gaze passed over the figure. He—and Ranma could tell that it was a man—fairly blazed with ki in his sight, at least as powerfully as his father. However, the nearly serene smile gracing the man's face—marred only by a slightly smug smirk—seemed to tell the surprised young man that there was no trouble to be had here, at least not in this moment, and Ranma slowly lowered his guard. Almost as if the man were actually seeing what he was doing, the man nodded, and then hopped to his feet.

Ranma took another thorough look at the man as he slowly approached; the dark-skinned man was taller than he was, standing perhaps close to two meters, and he was powerfully and solidly built as well. The man had very little hair on the top of his head, and his dark eyes were compassionate, yet strong and steady and piercing.

"Hello," the man offered in Japanese, odd sounding for the fact that it had almost no accent to it at all. "I am Detseru Moga." He closed his left hand around his right fist, and bowed at the waist, holding out his arms, and his head and eyes lowered; he held the pose for a double heartbeat, and then stood tall again.

Ranma frowned again slightly, bothered just a tad by the bow. Who was he that this man should bow to with such respect?

The man smiled softly. "I get that reaction a lot from new people," he responded. "It is as I state in our credo." He turned briefly and gestured towards the banner. "Respect," he explained in a word. "I have spoken with Tendo-san, and I believe that she mentioned that you are Saotome-san, would that be correct?"

"Yeah," Ranma blurted, still a bit surprised by the turn of events thus far. "Nabiki told me that you might could use someone to work for you?"

"She spoke truthfully," Detseru nodded. "She also said that you are a very honorable and very skilled martial artist. Has she spoken truthfully in that regard as well?"

"Yeah- I mean, yes, yes, she does speak truthfully," he replied, not sure why but feeling in some way that being honest and somewhat formal with Detseru would go a long way with the master of the dojo.

"I need someone skilled, to be able to teach one of my classes," the older man continued. "I am aware that you are not licensed, but if you are able to prove that you are skilled enough, you can pretend to be my student, and yet still teach, and gain some of the experiences you would need later, when you do seek to be a licensed instructor. If you were to do well enough, I would offer my support and sponsorship to aid you in becoming an instructor in martial arts. Would that be an acceptable situation with you, Saotome-san?"

Ranma considered the thought for a few moments; he didn't get the sense that Detseru was deliberately being vague or hiding anything from him, but it did sound a bit too good to be true, and coming by way of Nabiki, he was understandably wary. "Well, I don't mean ta be rude or nothin', but if I pretend to be your student, would I still be getting' paid to teach your class?" he decided to ask.

Detseru grinned at him. "Yes, Saotome-san, you would be paid as an instructor," he replied.

"Are there any other conditions or anything like that?" Ranma asked again. "No offense, but Nabiki sent me to you. That makes me a bit nervous."

Detseru laughed out loud, a heavy, hearty sound, then smiled widely. "I take it that Tendo-san does not tread fairly with you, Saotome-san?" When the boy shook his head in the negative, the larger man gave him a brief bow. "Then I will say that I have no hidden agendas, and that I can't think of anything right now that we need to discuss. You may always ask questions and I will answer them as truthfully as I am able."

"Then I will accept the situation, Detseru-san," he offered a brief smile of his own.

"Then would you be willing to spar with me, so I can judge how skilled you are?" Detseru asked, gesturing for Ranma to accompany him out into the middle of the floor. A brief nod from the aqua-transexual, and the two males stepped out onto the floor.

* * *

><p>"I got the job!" was all the warning Nabiki had, before she was gently tackled by a male body. She was spun around a time or two, before realization sunk in that the male in question was none other than Ranma, and she lightly bopped him on the top of his head as he held her up off of her feet, continuing to thank her for what she'd done for him.<p>

"You're touching me, Saotome," she offered dryly, though a glance at her face would have shown a faint smile and an even more faint blush. "If you don't put me down right now, I'm going to charge you to keep this from Akane." She paused, and when he didn't lower her right away, added, "And for the privilege of being up close and in my personal space, and of your near fondling of my lady parts." _That_ got her lowered to the floor quickly, and she smirked to see the fierce blush that spread out over his face. That flush didn't last very long, however, as he sedately—for him, at least; for anyone else, it was a near sprint—dashed into the kitchen to inform Kasumi of his news.

"Daddy's got a job!" he lightly bounced Sakura in his arms; the little baby girl giggled winsomely at being lightly bobbled between his firm hands and the air above his head. "Yes, daddy's got a job!" Ranma grinned widely. "Now, daddy can make sure you have everything you deserve." He grinned at Sakura, and made little silly faces at her for a few moments, before he kissed her on the forehead.

"Now we just have to find a new place to live…"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

I hadn't planned on there being a three month gap between this posting and the previous one, but I absolutely _hate_ to post a chapter without having the next one completed before posting. So yes, the secret is out- while I'm posting this chapter, the next one is completed and I'm working on the one after that as you read.

I got a bit hung up on some of what has to happen in the next chapter, in order to get the story where I wanted it; I got it, but it took a while for it to be more organic than my previous ideas were. But now that that's done, let's get on with the reviews.

**Brown Phantom:** Oh, you've been reading my chapter notes! Naughty! I hadn't actually read your review, before I finished the next chapter, and you're…let's say you shouldn't have been reading my notes! And as for a certain "I'm a martial artist, too!", she'll make her feelings known soon. But this is mostly from Ranma's POV, so I won't be including much of the other characters thoughts and motivations unless they directly affect and impact Ranma.

**DiMeraslover:** Thank you for the compliment. I hadn't planned on that particular direction, but perhaps I might be convinced otherwise!

**Hammerchuckery:** Well, as I've mentioned, this is a fanfic from Ranma's POV, mostly, so you might not get all of the other relevant information from other characters to explain or fill in what you imagine you're missing. But I hope the story is coherent enough without that 'filler' to be enjoyable.

And as always to everyone who does read, whether you really like the story or you think it's a load of crap, thank you for reading.


	6. Weight of Responsibility

Growing Pains

**Weight of Responsibility**

…from the previous chapter…

"_Yes, daddy's got a job!" Ranma grinned widely. "Now, daddy can make sure you have everything you deserve." He grinned at Sakura, and made little silly faces at her for a few moments, before he kissed her on the forehead. _

"_Now we just have to find a new place to live…"_

It had been an interesting week, so far.

Tuesday, the day after he'd gotten the job at _Tengu_, and after he'd spoken with Kasumi about his good fortune, he'd had another talk with Kasumi and then after leaving Sakura in her more than capable hands, he'd gone to Furinkan High.

It had been Kasumi's suggestions that had propelled him to the school in the first place that morning, specifically to the chief administrator's office, where he spoke with the woman in charge, explaining to her his newfound responsibilities, and his need to be at home for a while in order to address them. She seemed to understand his needs, and informed him that she would send his course work home with the elder Tendo sister, with the understanding that he would need to do more than just 'get by' with the work if he were doing it from home. She also assigned him with a tutor, who, she told him in a tone that brooked no argument, would stop by the Tendo home later in the day for an introduction.

His tutor was a _her_, by the name of Yoshi Zen; she was infamous around the school, but he didn't know why, and no one would tell him why. Yoshi herself later told him just why she was so well-known around the school—after a brief argument and almost as brief challenge spar with the girl by Akane-

"Is this another one of your hussies?" she'd accused, seeing him with the girl standing in the yard just inside the gate. "I'll send this one running back to her floozy friends!"

-and gave him some 'dirt' on a few of the more popular folks in the school as well, offering to him to 'trade' with Nabiki if he ever needed something.

Each day of the rest of the week had been spent in a combination of time with Sakura, doing his homework, running a few errands for Kasumi in exchange for her watching Sakura—as well as taking her advice about talking to young parents during his travels, to see who they would recommend for watching their children—and then in study with Yoshi. By weeks' end, he'd gained a renewed and strengthened understanding of just what he didn't know, but also by weeks' end the gap between himself and his peers at school had narrowed considerably.

Genma and Soun held relatively quiet against the intensity of Ranma's wrath for the first two or three days, but time and the boy's quiet refusal to wither under his father's glare, coupled with the fact that he was learning—which, Ranma was beginning to truly believe, was beginning to scare his father; the old man had something invested in his remaining uneducated, it seemed—seemed to bring out the audacity in him. Soun, with all the Will of a frightened hamster, rather quickly folded in the face of Genma's insistence that they 'remind the boy of his duties', and the pair found out that the pig-tailed boy's anger—and ability to dish out excruciating amounts of pain—from the previous weekend was a breeze compared to the storm he chose to unleash upon them the second time.

That had led to a rather ugly, nasty argument between the son of Genma and the daughter of Soun, at the end of which the young woman had decided to not only formally dissolve her relationship with the young man, but to completely dismiss the family honor agreement. He'd gone to bed that night, focusing his attentions on taking care of Sakura, and only just kept from dwelling on when the next problem would fall down on his head.

Thursday of that week, in addition to his now daily routine, he added work into the schedule, and was surprised to find Yoshi there as well, sparring with Sensei Detseru; the older man did pause for a while, to introduce him to the class, and to demonstrate that he was capable of giving instruction, and then turned him loose to do so. Yoshi took up audience , watching him, lending more butterflies to his stomach as he first watched the younger students run through their forms, and then as he moved to each one to correct them, or give them pointers. Once he had an idea of just what they were all doing—and by then he'd focused his attentions on the students, so Yoshi was the furthest thought from his mind—he got their attention, and slowly worked through a couple of their basic katas with them. He discovered in that moment that he would likely make a decent instructor—provided he remembered to take his students' instruction slow and steady—and that he could learn to enjoy passing on his knowledge. The night's pleasure was increased when Sensei Detseru came to him, and after an inadvertent slip about his new situation with the Tendos, offered him an advance of a paycheck and a place where he and Sakura could stay.

Friday saw, in addition to his usual routine, Soun and his father imploring-begging-demanding that he apologize to Akane, and beg her to take him back as her fiancé, and at first he'd frowned heavily at the pair, wondering just how idiotic they were; they wanted him to beg Akane to take him back, to beg someone who clearly didn't like him enough to listen to him, let alone trust him, someone who had listened to her father tell him to throw away his honor, to break a promise he had made, to abandon a baby to Fate, and who got mad at him for refusing her father's callous demand? And then he thought about it some more, frowning even more deeply; her father, and his own, wanted him to push aside his responsibilities, his duties, his **honor**, to cater to Akane, to satisfy her whims, to make _her_ happy? Where was _he_ supposed to be happy in all of this? When were the fathers ever going to ever make _her_ apologize to _him_?

_No_, he'd flat out told the demanding pair of fathers, to their momentarily shock, as he'd realized then and there a very important fact; Akane was the princess of the Tendo castle. There was nothing she could do wrong- nothing that anyone in the household would ever call her on. She could—and had!—cause him grievous harm, give him concussions and even amnesia, and later put the blame for her actions fully on his shoulders…and no one would tell her she had been in the wrong, or that she might have misjudged the situation or jumped to a wrong conclusion.

That had led to another fight, a physical one between himself and his father, and then when the sometimes-panda had been laid out by the koi pond, semi-conscious—Ranma had gone light on him that time—Soun had attempted to blackmail him into their demands, by telling him that if he didn't do as he was told, he—and the baby—would be put out of the house that night. He was infuriated at the smug look on Soun's face, knowing that the man was using his concern for Sakura to try to make him do what he wanted. Ranma had turned to an impassive Nabiki, and asked what the charge would be for he and the baby to remain for the night, and after the mercenary-minded Tendo had quoted a price to him, he reached into his wallet and paid her price.

And if perhaps not for the meddling of his father, the issue between himself and Tendo Soun might have resolved itself without any more damage to their honor; but at Genma's insistence the pair of foolish men decided that they had to have yet one more confrontation with him, with Genma stating that the boy would be removed from the clan if he didn't do as he was told, implying that he needed to get rid of Sakura and make nice with Akane. For once, Ranma didn't give in to the way he felt, instead simply offering them a promise of pain if they did anything that woke up the baby, and then gently slammed the door in their faces.

Soun was the one who broke and pleaded with him to remain as a guest of the house the next morning, when the older man witnessed Ranma carrying Sakura down the stairs, his backpack and her necessities bag slung over his shoulders, heading for the front door. Just before breakfast, Soun had nearly convinced him that it would be better to stay, but then Akane had opened her mouth and offered her opinion—which had been no where near complimentary, not a little upsetting, seemingly unconcerned for how he felt, and ended with her thoughts about Sakura, comments which expressed how he needed to get rid of that 'dead hussy's baby'.

He looked around at the table; Kasumi was the only one who seemed less than pleased with Akane's comments, but no one said anything to her about what she'd said.

"Tendo-_san_," he turned and spoke to Akane, surprising her—and everyone else—with his formality, "I apologize that nothing I could do would ever make you smile. Perhaps taking my unworthy self from your sight would be what might finally please you." His words were conciliatory, but his tone was cold, and perhaps because he was holding Sakura in his arms prevented everyone from feeling the effects of his Soul of Ice technique. He'd gone shortly after that, having touched none of Kasumi's wonderful breakfast, and headed straight for _Tengu_, where Sensei Detseru directed him to a very small apartment above the dojo.

He spent the rest of that Saturday, and the next day as well, cleaning the apartment—one of three or four, he came to discover, as he again bumped into Yoshi, and at least one other neighbor—as well as studying and trying to think of every way to make the place a home for himself and Sakura. He did speak with Kasumi on both days of that weekend; she made sure to tell him not to tell her where he was, on the thought that at least one of her relatives or houseguests would try to get the information from her (not that they would succeed, he privately thought, but didn't say to her). Just about everyone was in an uproar over his leaving, she told him, even Akane, though Kasumi did express that she felt that the younger Tendo was upset that he wasn't around for her to take her anger out upon.

And that brought him to this day, Monday.

His discussions with other parents in the prefecture had pointed him in the direction of one of the premiere child care centers; one of the problems for him was that the main location—and in fact, the only location—was deeper into Tokyo; it was, in fact, just outside of the main city, just on the edges of Nerima, near to the Nakano and Toshima prefectures. The other problem was one he wouldn't be able to judge until he got there, and that was price; he could only hope that he would be able to afford the price, though with his not having to pay Nabiki for the privilege of breathing—and indeed, not having to pay Sensei Detseru for the privilege of the apartment—he could, at least in theory, devote his pay to taking care of Sakura, which he hoped included paying for her to attend _The Emperor's Dragon_.

A third problem made itself known to him as he disembarked from his usual method of travel.

He dropped down to a gentle thud in the courtyard of the child care center, and he remained crouched for a few moments, smiling. In a baby carrier strapped to his torso, Sakura was giggling softly- at the unique way of travel, he presumed.

"Did daddy's girl have fun?" he gently cooed to her, as he finally began to stand—and immediately froze at hearing a number of guns being made ready to fire. He risked a quick look up, and saw at least four guns being aimed directly at him, attached to four less-than-pleased looking males. They hesitated slightly as they took notice of him, and then again when they noticed the baby—still giggling—strapped to his chest.

"Uh," Ramna grunted softly, "Am I in the wrong place?"

One of the men with a gun pointed at him reached up to his ear, and spoke softly; the pig-tailed young man heard enough to know that the man was speaking about him, but he couldn't hear what might have been said afterwards. The man nodded to whatever was being said to him, and then called out, "Caution!" Then he took three steps back—as did his fellow weapon wielders—and they lowered- but did not put away- their guns.

Ranma wasn't stupid enough to think that things had been settled just yet- as the men didn't stand down from their protective stance- and he certainly wasn't going to risk any injury to himself or Sakura- who was still giggling- and so he stayed still, just as he was.

It was a few minutes before another two males jogged out of the building, one who seemed to be more of a salaryman than the other, who seemed very much a lieutenant of some sort, judging by the way he carried himself. The 'lieutenant' approached the man who had done the talking, and gently slapped his hand on the others' arm.

"I have heard of the famous Saotome Ranma," the 'lieutenant' spoke, looking at the young man holding Sakura, and then turned to the other males. "I will vouch for his honor." Only then, did the other males lower their weapons completely, and then reholster them.

Ranma breathed a quiet sigh of relief. On a normal day, prepared for a battle, he could have easily mopped the floor with them; ill-prepared, and with Sakura in his arms, he didn't dare to imagine doing anything that would harm her.

"So, Saotome-san," the 'lieutenant' spoke; his voice was quiet and conciliatory, but the aforementioned young man had the distinct impression that this interaction between he and the other male was not nearly as simple as it seemed, "would one be wise to assume that your presence, and that of the child with you, are related to _The Emperor's Dragon_?"

"Yes," he offered in his most manner-ful tone. "I had heard from many parents that they believed that _The Emperor's Dragon_ would be a very good place to take care of my daughter. I was coming to see if I might find some way to pay for her child care here. I want the best for my daughter I can manage."

"Ahh," the 'lieutenant' grunted softly and nodded. "I can see why it is that you would bring your daughter here, in that case. But I am afraid that today is not a good day for you to have come, Saotome-san. We are here to keep watch over the children of very important people, and we must ask you to leave."

"Isn't there something I can do?" Ranma asked softly. "I mean, may I speak to someone? just for a few moments? just to get some information? I know it's not your concern, but I did travel a little bit to get here."

"Y-y-you must make an appointment," the salaryman-appearing gentleman spoke for the first time.

"Look," the 'lieutenant' cut into the conversation again, "I will ensure that _The Emperor's Dragon_ will provide you with an appointment for you to speak to someone, but—"

The 'lieutenant' and the air were both interrupted by an awful sound of metal booming and screeching, and almost by instinct, fate or design, all adult eyes turned towards the horrific sound.

A car was hurtling towards them; even now as they turned to look, the vehicle was just taking to the air, twisting to place its side panels in the direction of—

_the children_! Ranma thought immediately, his martial artist's mind unconsciously envisioning the momentum and angle of descent for the vehicle, and just how far into the courtyard—where a number of women were even now themselves only turning to see what was about to happen—were watching over an even larger number of children, none of whom were old enough to comprehend the sudden looks of terror their caregivers were adopting—

and with almost no thought at all, he tensed up to literally leap into action—but for the subtle shifting weight on his chest.

Sakura.

Thoughts, weighing his and her safety verses whether or not he could live with himself if he held her above other children, his own mortality verses doing the right thing, risking his life and leaving her parent-less verses risking his life and saving the lives of others, all flashed through his mind so quickly that the decision was made, his fingers already fumbling for the quick-release connections at the front of his torso, that he was already handing Sakura over to the salaryman-appearing gentleman before he was fully conscious of what he had thought.

"Keep her safe!" he commanded of the man, thrusting her into the surprised male's arms, before he dashed in the direction of the car.

Already it was tumbling, just hitting the ground where it would either bounce back up into the air, or simply barrel-roll along the ground; either way, unfortunately, it would do serious harm. And he couldn't allow that.

He leapt up into the air, infusing ki into his legs for the jump, and then pouring almost everything he had into them to brace for what he was about to do. He had it timed almost to the millisecond in his head; there was no margin for error, and no thought in his head that he would fail. He couldn't fail, couldn't think about failing, couldn't even think; 'Do or do not', he remembered overhearing once somewhere, 'there is no try.'

And do, he did, striking the rolling vehicle just at the leading forward edge, and doing so hard enough to almost fully cancel out its momentum; it teetered on the edge of rolling forward once more, and then instead, rocked backwards, and landed, miraculously, on its wheels. The vehicle was in no shape to be driven, however.

The pig-tailed teen landed almost gracefully on his feet, and had to pull at his reserves of ki to keep standing- not only did his feet and legs hurt, but forcing that much ki to do what he'd done had taxed him; it wasn't every day that he fought to cancel out the momentum of so much moving mass. But he couldn't back down, he couldn't collapse; there was still a great deal at stake.

"Everyone okay?" he spun around quickly, to the wide-eyed, terrified stares of the child caregivers. One woman was of a mind enough to give a timid nod of her head; Ranma glanced downward to see the children smiling at him, still either playing or toddling about. Barely a dozen meters separated where the vehicle had finally come to rest, from where the nearest child played in the sand.

He gave a faint sigh of relief, and then re-shored up his ki to the task at hand. Quickly he moved to the side of the vehicle, and after a quick look, moved to the door most likely to open. The other men were arriving in the near vicinity now as well, with others pouring out of the child care center. Those who were already there were escorting the caregivers, a child in each arm, back towards the center, while another one or two were rushing towards Ranma and the vehicle.

Ranma braced himself, and allowing a bit of ki to infuse with his arms and legs, sharply tugged on the door, pulling it nearly off its hinges, but getting it open. He could clearly see that the occupants needed medical attention, but then one of the big burly guys was there, and he politely but firmly nudged Ranma out of the way.

The aquatransexual young man backed up, and only then did he give thought as to his own daughter. His eyes swept the landscape, spotting the salaryman-appearing gentleman to be holding Sakura, still close to the spot where he'd left them. Exhaling with incredible relief, he quickly strode over to the pair and retrieved his child from the man's arms. Only then, once he was holding her again, and a nearby bench seemed to be ready to accept him, did he allow himself to collapse, sitting down harshly. He held onto Sakura tightly, his thoughts racing, imagining her having been in the place of another child, and no one like him to save her. He held her close, and for the first time in his life as a male, sobbed freely, and without restraint.

Omake- sort of…*

"Is this another one of your hussies?" Akane snarled at Ranma, seeing him with Yoshi standing in the yard just inside the gate. "I'll send this one running back to her floozy friends!"

"It's not like that!" he whirled around to see the youngest Tendo stalking up to him. "She's just—"

"Just another fiancée you picked up and brought to _my house_ to wreck havoc! I've had it, Ranma Saotome! And you!" At this, the turned on Yoshi, who regarded the Tendo girl with a slightly bored, slightly curious expression, one eyebrow raised, "I challenge you to a fight?"

"Oh, really?" Yoshi pursed her lips, took an unconscious step back, and put her hands on her hips.

"You don't even know if she can fight!" Ranma shot back at her.

"I got this, Saotome," Yoshi cut in before either he or Akane could comment again. "So you wanna fight, little girl?" she grinned, almost purring.

"Bring it!" Akanae growled, stepping back into a ready stance.

Yoshi grinned softly, almost mischievously. "I'll lick you good, girl," she laughed quietly, "And then maybe you'll return the favor."

"Oh, you bet I wi—wait, what?" She halted, shifting gears; that wasn't something she was expecting to hear, and it didn't quite make sense.

"I said, I'll lick you good, girl," Yoshi repeated. "I love a good, intense, rousing fight; it gets me allllll hot and bothered," she continued to practically purr, "And you're a lot more my type than Mr. Muscles here; I'm just here to tutor him." She slinked closer to the martial-artist wannabe. "So maybe we can get a little hot and sweaty, then wash each other off before we go and get some hands-on study of one another's anatomy?"

Akane recoiled slightly, before her eyes glazed over; she then promptly fainted, blood gushing in a fountain from her nose.

*This is an omake, "sort of", because yes, that really is the reason why Yoshi is so infamous at school; she bats for the "wrong" team.

**Author's Note**: Honestly? I've had this chapter, and the very next one to follow, completed for probably about two months. But you know of my penchant for having the _next_ chapter done, and until a day or so ago, I haven't finished the eighth chapter, so I couldn't post this one and the next one- and the next one was so...right, that it virtually wrote itself within days of my finishing this chapter- and because folks have wanted to see Ryoga finally get some measure of justice for his actions, I couldn't post this chapter, and then wait. You'll see- and I hope you'll appreciate what the Lost Boy finally gets as he deserves. There may be an interlude to further detail his punishment, but I figured this was at least a good start in that direction, next chapter.

No real speculation in a while- I suppose that happens when i don't update enough! Hopefully, these two chapters will produce quite a bit of speculation!


	7. Repercussions

Growing Pains

**Repercussions**

…from the previous chapter…

_"Everyone okay?" he spun around quickly, to the wide-eyed, terrified stares of the child caregivers. One woman was of a mind enough to give a timid nod of her head; Ranma glanced downward to see the children smiling at him, still either playing or toddling about. Barely a dozen meters separated where the vehicle had finally come to rest, from where the nearest child played in the sand._

_Only then, once he was holding her again, and a nearby bench seemed to be ready to accept him, did he allow himself to collapse, sitting down harshly. He held onto Sakura tightly, his thoughts racing, imagining her having been in the place of another child, and no one like him to save her. He held her close, and for the first time in his life as a male, sobbed freely, and without restraint._

Ranma lightly groused about his second major run-in with the police in as many weeks, though thankfully this time he was more being thanked for his presence than called to the carpet for it. They still had to question him almost obsessively about each point of his tale, and then they had him sit in the front seat of a police vehicle—with the door opened, so as not to make him feel in any way like a suspect—while they then spoke with all of the other witnesses, which took the better part of two hours. And as if that hadn't been enough stress for the day, the salaryman-looking gentleman had come to him, as the police were leaving, and introduced him to the director of the child care center, who then after expressing his most heartfelt gratitude, quick-talked him into an appointment to see the center by the end of the week, and then sent him on his way. The whole purpose of his visit to the child care center, and he'd been postponed.

At least something good had come from his being there that day.

He had declined a ride back to _Tengu_ with the police, smiling softly as he'd thought of how his roof-hopping seemed to make Sakura smile and giggle, and so he'd returned to the warehouse dojo in the same way.

Only to encounter Akane and Ryoga.

He sighed heavily.

"There you are!" snapped Akane.

He sighed heavily as she stalked towards him, but flinched when she raised her hand in his direction. Thoughts flew through his mindscape in the space between that action and when she opened her mouth to speak again, thoughts of her hitting him, of him being hit, of false accusations and faulty conclusions, and thoughts of the Tendo 'princess'…and the immediate conclusion that came to him was 'not ever again'. That, and that he would have to become a strong man, strong in Mind and in Will, to make sure that Sakura never became that type of person, either like he was now, or like Akane had become.

"Where've you been, Ranma?" Akane snarled, and then immediately launched into her tirade. "I looked all over for you! I bet you've been staying with those floozies, Ukyou and Shampoo, haven't you? Where were you?"

Ranma sighed and shook his head in quiet disbelief, then turned towards the dojo.

"Don't you ignore me!" she growled at him, slapping a hand up on his shoulder to turn him back around to face her. "You owe me—"

The pig-tailed boy spun around, but shrugged her hand off of his shoulder. "I don't _owe_ you _anything, **Tendo**. San,_" he snarled back at her.

Akane frowned back at him. "Whaddayu mean by that?" she shot back at him, bewildered.

"_You're_ the one who called off the engagement," he tossed back at her, "_you're_ the one who broke the formal honor agreement between our families. I don't have any more ties to you; all you are now is someone I used to…someone I cared about a lot." The last was said with a quietly determined resignation.

He held his ground, looking back at the dark-haired youngest Tendo female, as she seemed momentarily stumped for what to say, before he turned to head into the dojo once again.

"You can't talk to her like that!" barked Ryouga, stomping towards where the pair practically stood.

"Shut it, bacon-breath," Ranma shot back at him. "I gotta talk to you anyway."

"Ain't no _talk_, Ranma," the directionally-challenged young man shouted, "we didn't finish our fight from last time! So let's go- right here, right now!"

"_Not_ right here, and _not_ right now," the young father turned back to face him, "or haven't you noticed the _baby_ strapped to my chest, among other things?"

"Oh, so you hide behind a _baby_ now, Saotome?" Ryouga taunted, grinning toothily. "The great martial artist, trying to run and hide behind a _baby_!" He grinned even more widely, and made noises like a crying baby.

Ranma's first reaction was to leap at his rival and pound him into the ground, but again that subtly shifting weight on his chest reminding him of what was most important. He simply turned and shook his head. "Something things are more important than me or my ego," he tossed back at Ryouga, his tone resigned, yet still steely and sharp. He turned and stepped over the threshold and into the dojo.

"Hey!" Ryouga snarled, and leapt the distance between Ranma and himself, punching the other in the shoulder. "Don't you turn your back on me!"

Ranma stumbled into the dojo, and when he couldn't compensate for the blow and added motion, tucked Sakura into his chest as he performed a roll and then continued it to snap back onto his feet. "Are you crazy, stupid, or do you have a _death wish_?" he growled at Ryouga, the last words carrying a dangerous undertone.

"I said fight me!" Ryouga shouted. He leapt forward to attack Ranma once again.

And was stopped almost in mid air by a much larger body.

Said body belonged to the dojo owner, Detseru.

"I don't know who you are," he growled down at the lost boy, having captured Ryouga's fist in the palm of his larger hand, "but around here, we don't attack people carrying children." He clenched his hand around Ryouga's fist.

Ryouga tried angrily to pull back his fist, but it was almost as if it were embedded in concrete, with no yielding. He tried twice more, his irritation giving way to a grudging respect and growing concern. "I don't know who you think you are," he shot back at Detseru, "but me and him got a man to man fight to finish."

Detseru growled, low and dangerous, and all three of the teens had a slight shiver run up their spines. "I don't care about your so-called man to man fight, _boy_. There is an innocent child in the way. Try that again, and whether or not you're as good as you seem, I will _**hurt**. You._" The air suddenly seemed to grow more dense, heavier than normal, and again all three teens could feel the spike of _ki_ in the air, all three knowing that it was coming from the tall, dark stranger.

Ranma gave a slight gesture to get Detseru's attention. "Sensei?" he offered, both to get Detseru to listen, and to call attention to who Detseru was to both of the unwelcome guests, "If you could be so kind as to hold Sakura for me? I'll handle him."

Detseru looked at Ranma for a few moments, clearly not willing to agree, but after a further moment, he gave a curt nod. "That is a very pretty name. I would be greatly honored to look after such a pretty little girl." A smile crossed his face—but to a close observation, never reached his eyes—that transformed him from a dark and brooding menace, to a warm and personable man. He released the offensive young man from his grasp, and then stepped closer to Ranma, who handed the baby to him. Detseru's smile grew even wider as he took Sakura into his arms, and stared at her as she stared back at him. "Yes, little Sakura, I know I'm funny looking to you," he chuckled at her, and began walking away from the trio, towards his office, "but that's just fine. Your daddy has some business to take care of, so I think we'll have us a little play date…" The rest was lost as his voice lowered and as he walked further and further from the trio.

Ranma turned to look back at Ryouga; Akane looked at the pair of them oddly, Ranma noticing that she didn't hesitate to turn that same odd look onto Ryouga.

"No baby in the way now, Ranma," Ryouga snarled, and took a step towards him.

Ranma held his hands up in the air. "Give me a moment, Ryouga," he smiled gently, though there was something slightly _off_ about that smile. "I wanna show you something real quick, and then we'll fight."

Ryouga _hmph_'ed, and virtually vibrated where he stood, eager to get started, but held his ground.

"Stop picking on Ryouga," Akane interjected; Ranma rolled his eyes.

"He just attacked me, while I had a baby in my arms, and _I'm_ picking on him?" Ranma asked incredulously.

The youngest Tendo opened her mouth to speak, then stalled for a moment, before getting her feet back under her, verbally speaking. "Well, you're about to," she said, somewhat weakly.

"Oh, for Kami's sake," he rolled his eyes once again. 'Sit down and be quiet before you hurt yourself jumping to conclusions."

"Hey, you can't talk to her like that!" he said once again, and took another step Ranma. Again, Ranma held up his hands.

"You see these?" he said, giving his arms a bit of a shake, emphasizing the bracers on his wrists.

"Yeah, so?" Ryouga snarled once he took notice of them. Ranma smiled, and then, with deliberate slowness, took off one, and then the other. He paused for effect, and then bent down, and pulling up his pant legs, took off a matching pair from each lower leg.

"These aren't just bracers," said, picking them up and taking them over to a desk near to the door. He set them down, and once could hear a faint groan come from the desk. He walked back to the spot he'd stood in previously. "First off they're weighted, about twenty kilograms each. And, if you want to take a look inside of them, you'll notice that they have spikes inside of them that press down against my skin."

Ryouga frowned, while Akane went over to the table to look at the equipment. "So?" Ryouga repeated, growing impatient. "What's that got to do with anything?"

Ranma shook his head, smirking softly, menacingly. "You don't get it, do you?" He grinned, still with that dangerous tone to his voice. "Among other things, my bracers aren't slowing me down anymore."

Akane paled slightly at that revelation, and then seemed to connect the dots of what the pig-tailed boy was saying, and paled even further. "Ryouga," she began, stammering slightly, "I don't think this is a good time to fight him—"

Ryouga wasn't usually of a mind to ignore Akane, but when it came to fighting, and especially fighting Ranma, he was fully engaged, and even she couldn't turn him away from his task. "Feh. So he took off his little toys. I'll still mop the floor with him."

Ranma chuckled, drawing Ryouga's attention to him. "Let me spell it out for you, Ryouga," he grinned. "Those are weighted bracers. Which means I'm stronger than you thought, and now that I'm not wearing them, I'm faster, too. And those spikes inside? They're matched to specific pressure points on my arms and legs, to hold me back in my speed, strength, and my ki. And I took them off." His grin darkened now. "Think about that for a moment."

Ryouga almost stormed straight into the fight, but a very frantic look from Akane, complete with her waving her hands at him, made him think for a moment.

"No helping, Tendo," Ranma called to her, "If the Lost Boy really wants to fight me, even when I'm trying to show him why he should have stopped before he'd gone too far, let him."

Ryouga thought furiously about what the pig-tailed aquatransexual had stated, and while it took him longer than it had Akane, he still balked a bit when the conclusion jumped at him.

"You're stronger and faster without the bracers," Ryouga said to him, though it was equal parts verbal confirmation as it was speaking his thoughts out loud, "And then you're even stronger and faster, and you have more ki, now that the bracers aren't holding back your ki flow." It took saying it out loud for the information to sink in, and then even he paled. "H-how much…?" he couldn't finish.

"You're about to find out," Ranma snarled, his smile now toothy and very predatory. "You tried to hurt my daughter."

"You're going to hurt, _a lot._"

"You really hurt him," Akane practically gasped, her voice nearly a whisper at the disturbing horror that she'd witnessed, of Ranma laying into Ryouga like she used to lay into some of the boys in the mornings at Furinkan. Mind you, to her mind her actions were completely justified, while Ranma's were very much _not_.

"He should be thankful the police want to talk to him," Ranma lightly growled back. "Otherwise I would have _really_ hurt him. You know what I used to do for you; imagine someone hurting someone I care for, who can't even fight back like you can." He turned to watch the emergency medical personnel gingerly help a heavily bandaged and braced Ryouga up onto a stretcher, and the police secure him in place.

Akane winced at the "used to" comment. "Ranma, about that—"

"You don't have that privilege anymore, Tendo," he tossed back at her with little heat. "_You_ tossed our engagement to the side like trash. You _didn't _ give a thought to what I was going through. _You_ decided without me, that _you_ had the right to decide what was going to happened to the two of _us_. You _didn't _consider at all that I might have cared about you, or that I would have very much liked for you to have been by my side, as a partner."

He paused to turn to her.

"Maybe I should have said something before now, but I suppose I was stuck acting like a child, reacting to everything that was happening between us. But I started growing up. And _you_ didn't. You lashed out, letting your anger get in the way, and you threw _us_ away. So no, you don't get to try and convince me that it was just a mistake, that I should "come home". Your home is no longer my home. My home is with Sakura. Maybe one day, we can be friends, but for now, you should go back to your home."

He turned away again, to watch the emergency workers load the Lost Boy into the emergency vehicle, and deliberately didn't watch as Akane slumped, and slipped away.

**Author's Note**: No notes this chapter...


	8. Interlude: Semi-Conscious

**Authors Note:** This story is not dead. Not even a little bit. The situation is that, around the time I last posted a chapter, I got rather 'unwell' for a week or thereabouts, and then less than two weeks after that, my child ended up in the hospital for a week. And then a month later, I was laid off from work, and a month after that, I was homeless. Still am, with respect to the fact that the roof over my head is not my own. So, life hasn't been very happy in recent months, but things are improving. Hence, the next chapter…

* * *

><p>Growing Pains<p>

**Interlude: Semi-Conscious**

Akane stormed through the front doors, grumbling loudly about the idiot aquatransexual who wouldn't come home like she tried to tell him to, who insulted her by calling her by her family name, who had beaten up Ryoga for absolutely no reason at all—

Genma and Soun watched the blue-haired girl in need of anger-management classes as she virtually stomped her way through the formal living area and up the stairs towards her room.

"My ungrateful son," Genma groused quietly, concentrating on the 'Go' game board in front of him. "We welcome him back with open arms, and he chooses to turn his back on us. _We're_ his family; that poor unfortunate child means _nothing!_ Tell me, Soun, why would he turn his back on us in favor of some unknown child?"

It had been _Soun_ who had offered to Akane that Ranma be allowed to come back to the Tendo home—who had been pressured by _Genma_ to make that offer—but in the face of Genma's grumbling and irritation, he decided not to point out that particular fact. "I don't have an answer for you, my friend," he returned quietly, "but trying to force him give up that little girl by threatening to kick him out of the house wasn't the most inspired of ideas, Genma."

Genma frowned at him softly. "The boy is misguided," the larger man returned, "but he's impatient. We'll give him a week, a week without our supporting him and helping him take care of a _baby__, _and then we'll give it another shot." Genma chuckled to himself. "When he sees how rough life is when he has no freedom, not money, and no support to take care of a baby, he'll be more than ready to give up that child and come back home where he belongs."

"I bow to your wisdom, my good friend," Soun complimented him, though quietly he wondered if such would be the case.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, the patriarchs of the Tendo and Saotome families weren't the only ones to witness the youngest Tendo's trampling through the house, and both the middle and eldest daughters of Tendo Soun quickly followed her up the stairs and to her room.<p>

"Whaddayu want?" Akane snarled through the door when the two older sisters knocked.

"I take it your oh so wonderful plan to get Ranma-kun back didn't go so well?" Nabiki offered, after sliding open the bedroom door and walking in. Demurely, Kasumi followed behind her, and then closed the door behind the two of them.

"I don't wanna talk about that _jerk_!" the youngest Tendo growled.

"Akane!" Kasumi gasped, but Nabiki butted in. "She's right; he _is_ a jerk. I mean, why else would he abandon his family for somebody else's strange little parasite if it wasn't because he was a jerk." She then gave a long look at Akane, and turning back to Kasumi, continued, "But then again, Akane _did_ break off both the engagement _and_ the formal family honor agreement, _and _Daddy _did_ kick him out of the house, so why wouldn't the jerk abandon us and go elsewhere?" The middle Tendo sister turned back to her younger sibling. "Sure, he's a jerk, but _you're_ the one who gave the jerk a reason for not being here anymore, so don't get pissy at me and Kasumi—"

"Nabiki! Language!" Kasumi interrupted in mortified surprise.

"Sorry sis," Nabiki tossed out smoothly, not sounding sorry at all, as if she had been expecting the interjection, "—because _you_ couldn't fix something _you_ screwed up."

"Nabiki and Akane!" shot Kasumi, surprising the aforementioned sisters, "I will not have you calling Ranma-kun a jerk!"

"What's it to you?" Akane groused, giving her sister the hairy eyeball…for about a half second, before ducking her head.

Kasumi pursed her lips slightly, a vague expression of displeasure- something that had both of her younger sisters paling internally.

"First of all, Ranma-kun is not a jerk; I think it is an incredible show of his honor and sense of responsibility that he's taking care of Sakura after her mother passed away." She grew more quiet with her next words. "She died due to being caught in the collateral damage of his and Ryoga's fighting. Her mother's dying words were to get Ranma-kun to promise to take care of her baby."

Akane gasped, hearing the statement from Kasumi; Ryoga hadn't mentioned at all that he had been fighting Ranma, or that that was the reason why Ramna had someone's baby. Ranma had mentioned _something_, but she'd just _known_ that he was making up excuses for being finally caught out sleeping around on her. Once she'd had her mind made up, there was nothing that he was able to say that she'd been willing to listen to. To her shame, she now realized.

Nabiki's own eyes narrowed slightly at the news; it wasn't knowledge she'd been able to glean from her network of informants, nor from the pig-tailed boy himself; after she'd made her playful-but-not-to-him threat of selling information about Sakura to the other fiancées, he'd become incredibly tight-lipped about anything that had to do with the little baby, including how he'd come to be her father.

Kasumi went on. "He told _me_ all of this the night he came back home with Sakura. He told _me_ because I was willing to listen, Akane, something you weren't willing to do. You insulted him and then walked away, so I've been the only one he's talked to about things. This has been incredibly hard on him, not just because he's got a baby to take care of now, but also because he's been learning how to grow up just in these last two weeks. But our _family_ shut him out, because he wasn't doing things that we all wanted him to do, _our_ way. He told me about that, too, about feeling like he wasn't anything more than a prize, or a resource," and here she looked at Nabiki, "instead of as a person, and no one wanted to help him." She turned back to Akane now. "In light of all that, I can see why he would 'abandon' our family. Especially when the one person who he cares about, abandoned him."

Akane couldn't bear to look up at Kasumi as she issued her parting words. "Ranma-kun has done a lot of growing up, Akane. If you want to understand him, if you want him to come back home, then maybe you need to do some growing up, too." She heard her elder sister ushering the middle child out of the room, and shut the door behind them, but all she could think of, at the moment, were her sister's admonishing words.

Was she right?

* * *

><p>Kasumi took hold of Nabiki's hand, and gently pulled her in the direction of her own room, a room they both knew that Nabiki would have never had the gall to place listening devices in. She drew her younger sister down to the bed's surface, and turned to face her.<p>

"I've never interfered with your…actions before, little sister," Kasumi began, "but now I feel I need to ask questions. You _will_ answer me, and give me truthful answers; you won't like what I will have to do, if you lie to me."

"Sure, fine," Nabiki affected her nonchalance, though part of her wondered just what Kasumi would do to her that might inspire any fear in her.

"I know that you've been interfering with Akane and Ranma-kun growing closer together. I want to know why."

Nabiki blinked at that. Part of her had thought she was being more subtle, yet another part was more surprised that Kasumi had finally seen what she was doing. "They were both too young, and they both needed to do some growing up," she offered to her older sister. And it was technically true…

"And?" Kasumi asked, a very faint edge to her tone.

"And, what?" Nabiki tossed back at her. "It's not like it's true—"

"And," Kasumi interrupted her, "it would have been so much more to your benefit to let them be. You began interfering with them shortly after uncle Genma and Ranma-kun arrived, and so I know it wasn't only your interest in making money off of Ranma-kun that started your interfering with them growing closer. By all rights, they should have at least gotten past acting just like they did when they first met. And even if it were about making money off of them, I can't see this being something that would have held your interest all this time, to this degree. So tell me everything I want to know, Nabiki, or so help me, I'll claim to be sick, and let Akane do the cooking from now on."

Nabiki fell almost as white as a sheet. Akane, _cooking?_ And, according to Kasumi's implication, without instruction? She shuddered at the thought. And then a loophole caught her thoughts, and she turned her gaze back on her elder sister.

"And I'll tell all the fast-food vendors that we're all trying out a new diet, and that they should ignore any calls for meals that don't come from me. You _know_ that they will listen to me, Nabiki. And I'll make sure that if you somehow manage _not_ to eat any of Akane's meals when they're prepared, that they'll be waiting for you in your room when you return," Kasumi added.

Nabiki had seen some of Akane's creations, and if they didn't simply grow _more_ loathsome and repugnant by dint of sitting around, then they would do so by actually actively trying to _move_. The thought of something like _that_, waiting in her room for her, made her loosen her tongue.

"Uncle Genma," she blurted. "He told me, a few days after they'd arrived, not to let Ranma and Akane get together too soon; 'Let them struggle to get together,' he said, 'It'll make them a stronger couple'. He also said that he didn't want Ranma to grow up too fast; he didn't want Ranma to be too independent. He said something about getting the two of them together and then letting them gradually take over running a dojo from him and Daddy."

Kasumi nodded, her mind whirling.

"Alright," she said at length, affecting some hesitancy in her words. "I believe you." She spent perhaps another minute or two trying to convince Nabiki that she wouldn't sic Akane's cooking on her, and then let her go.

But in the forefront of her thoughts, she wondered at the reasoning behind why Genma wouldn't want Ranma to grow close to Akane too soon, and why he would then decide to 'take it easy' on passing on the dojo, when according to he and Daddy, that the two were already heirs to the school.

She knew that Genma had few scruples, but she couldn't quite grasp the _why_ of his intentions. She would need to keep an eye on him…


	9. Baby Daddy - Side One

**Chapter Pre-notes**: As I stated before, this story is not dead, not in the least. However, we're now coming into the final chapters of this story- I think there might be four more chapters before the end here.

Life has finally begun returning to normal, and so, here is the newest chapter!

* * *

><p>Growing Pains<p>

**Baby Daddy**

Side One

…from the previous chapter…

"_You don't have that privilege anymore, Tendo," he tossed back at her with little heat. "You tossed our engagement to the side like trash. You didn't give a thought to what I was going through. You decided without me, that you had the right to decide what was going to happen to the two of us. You didn't consider at all that I might have cared about you, or that I would have very much liked for you to have been by my side, as a partner."_

_He paused to turn to her._

"_Your home is no longer my home. My home is with Sakura. Maybe one day, we can be friends, but for now, you should go back to your home."_

_He turned away again, to watch the emergency workers load the Lost Boy into the emergency vehicle, and deliberately didn't watch as Akane slumped, and slipped away._

* * *

><p>Ranma had just dismissed the class for that Thursday afternoon—the after school crowd—and was beginning to put away some of the equipment, when Yoshi trotted in through the front door. He could tell that something was up, as she had a thoughtful, almost worried expression to her features. He <em>knew<em> something was up when she made her way directly towards him.

"Saotome-san?" she offered in a quietly lilting voice. "There is a gentleman outside who says he wishes to speak with you. He suggested I mention to you that he was with you at the child care center."

That information piqued his curiosity, and his caution, as well. "Alright," he returned, "would you be kind enough to take over keeping an eye on Sakura from me, from Detseru-sensei? And if you would, please let him know that I will plan to be outside, talking with an important gentleman from the child care center?"

Yoshi nodded softly. "Be careful, Saotome," she replied gently. "I believe that the gentleman outside might be," and she leaned in close to whisper, "Yakuza."

The pig-tailed martial artist smirked just a bit, though the mirthful expression didn't meet his eyes. "I wouldn't be surprised," he returned, before turning towards the entrance.

It had been as Yoshi had suspected, of course—he had also suspected, but the very pristine luxury vehicle that had awaited him outside had practically screamed out the very fact. Inside had been the salaryman-appearing gentleman, who had then informed him that the child of the Sempai had been among those that Ranma had saved, and so the Sempai was requesting that the young man come and speak with him.

And if that hadn't been enough, the very next day, an even more expensive luxury vehicle had arrived, bearing a functionary to the Emperor who, while largely a figurehead in the current political climate of Japan, was still someone who had a considerable amount of influence; the functionary expressed the wish of the Emperor that he meet with Ranma in a week's time. That the child of the Emperor was among those saved at the child care center was spoken of quickly and dwelt upon not at all, and Ranma took that to mean that it was a powerfully personal event with the powerful man. That he had saved the children of two of the most powerful men in Japan was vaguely humbling, and left him a bit speechless, but remembering his feeling of how he would have felt, had someone like him not been there, and Sakura had been, refreshed for him what he really felt; that he was simply glad to have been a parent, when it was most needed.

On this, he called Kasumi to ask her for her advice; he talked to her often, nearly daily; she had become a sounding board for him, and he was very thankful for her insight, and simply the presence of her over the telephone, not just a connection to a warm and caring part of his life, but someone he felt he was quickly growing to become good friends with. She suggested that he speak with Nabiki, as the middle Tendo was the one most likely to be able to guide him in his endeavors, and he remembered that, at least with the Yakuza, he could likely help her as she helped him.

"So whaddaya want, Saotome?" Nabiki intoned when he was finally able to speak to her.

"I want your help and advice, Tendo," he returned good-naturedly.

"It'll cost you," she returned almost immediately—and to his better trained mind now, her response seemed almost automatic to him, as if she either were expecting him to ask for help, and had her response prepared, or- and this tickled him even more- as if _any _request for help got that same response from her.

"Not this time," he chuckled, then went on before she could protest, "You help me with the Yakuza, and I'll help you with the Yakuza."

"Wait- what?" she snapped, sounding much more focused now.

"I have a meeting with the Yakuza," he returned. "I thought of you; you're smarter than I am, and you know how to speak to people when it comes to deals and stuff. Plus, maybe while we're there, we can see what they want with ya, and maybe we can get stuff settled, so they leave you alone. Isn't that what you'd call a win-win deal?"

Nabiki was silent on the other end of the line for a few moments. "That almost makes sense, Saotome," he heard her say, the slightest tremble to her voice. "But what makes you think I wanna go toe to toe with the Yakuza?"

"Because you like the challenge, Tendo," he smirked widely, letting his amusement be clear in his voice. "You like negotiating, making deals, and this would be a helluva challenge. You're kinda like me about that, Tendo."

"Not a chance, Saotome," she shot back at him, but he could hear curiosity in her tone now. "I'm not a over-muscled martial artist who needs someone of my caliber to help him."

"And I'm not a over-smart deal-making artist who needs someone of my prowess to help her," he shot back.

"Wow, Saotome," she nearly deadpanned, "I'm not only surprised you know the word 'prowess', or that you used it correctly, but that you're trying to match me in a battle of wits. And to top it off, you're trying to get under my skin, and you're taking a risk at cheesing me off, too."

"I'm learning," he shot back, chuckling.

"So I see," she returned, then fell quiet for a few moments. "Let's say I decide to help you, Saotome; what's in it for me, and what assurances do I have about your helping me?"

He grinned. "Well, what's in it for you is the person I have to see, before I see the Yakuza, and as for me helping you," and his tone shifted, becoming much more sincere and solemn, "I give you my word, on my honor, that I won't let anyone harm you at this meeting."

"Hm," she grunted over the line, and for a few moments of silence, he took her to be considering his words.

"Alright, Saotome," she said at length, "I'll go with you. I have a few conditions, though—"

"Uh-uh," he grunted back at her, grinning with the phone in his hand, "No conditions, Tendo."

"You're the one who called me, needing _my_ help, and then you have the audacity to tell me that I can't attach conditions to my help?" she returned in a slightly edgy tone.

"You'll thank me when you find out who you get to meet before I meet with the Yakuza," he grinned even more widely.

"And who, pray tell, are you meeting before you meet with the Yakuza?"

"Nuh-uh; you have to agree first, Tendo- unconditionally."

She made a sound of disgust, and sighed. "Alright, fine, Saotome; I'm curious, so I'll agree- I'll help you with the Yakuza, you'll help me with the Yakuza, and I won't attach any conditions to that help. Now who is it you're taking me with you to meet before we meet with the Yakuza?

Once she found out that it was the Emperor, her tone had changed considerably, and once again he strangely found himself on the receiving end of a thank you from Tendo Nabiki, and an agreement that if things went smoothly, she'd clear all of his remaining debts to her- and transfer them to his father. He agreed to that, and shortly after that, had hung up.

Then had come the task of getting himself ready for the two very important meetings, and for that he enlisted the help of Yoshi and Detseru-san. He had the thought that Detseru-san would know where he could find proper 'proper' clothing for meeting such important people, and that Yoshi would have an idea of what would suit him best, as he was convinced that women were better at fashion than men. He wasn't disappointed with either thought, and he ended up with an additional advance to 'a' paycheck—as Detseru had said—that had made his eyes boggle, and two very nice outfits to wear.

His outfit for the Emperor was a much nicer version of what he ordinarily wore; the Chinese-style shirt was made of fine silk; it was so clean and such a wonderfully golden-white that it nearly glowed in the light; the shirt was also embroidered with a golden-threaded dragon that began in the small of his back, slithered around his left side and eyed the world from the upper left chest of the shirt. To go along with the silk shirt was a fine vest of green with golden-threaded embroidery. The outfit was completed with a fine pair of stiffened silk-blended pants, also in a Chinese style—but not as comfortably loose as his normal pants—and a pair of very clean, nice black slippers.

For the Yakuza, his look was a very much different one; a simple yet expensive silk-blended button long sleeved shirt in red, with a fine blazer jacket in a dark blue that was nearly black. His slacks were made of fine cloth that wasn't silk but felt nearly as good, and a pair of functional, yet soft leather shoes fell into place with the outfit; he appeared serious enough to take seriously, but also gave a presence of wariness, not someone to be taken lightly, but not someone looking for a fight, either.

Yoshi took to badgering him at every opportunity she could find to do so, curious about his dealings with the Yakuza, though Ranma made that as difficult as he could by avoiding her whenever he was able to do so, and managing somehow to stall her questioning whenever he couldn't keep her at a distance. But by the day of his meetings, she had managed to corner him in his apartment by standing in front of the door and threatening to strip in front of him. While he _could_ have gotten away by way of the fire escape, he understood that he was only continuing to drag out this confrontation, for lack of a better word, and he was tired of it.

"You've been after me with questions about the Yakuza all week," he sighed softly, "Why do you keep on pestering me about it?"

"Because I wanna know what the Yakuza want you for!" the raven-haired girl exclaimed gently, but insistently, "Are you working for them? They're not trying to kill you, are they? Why are you going to meet with them? Why won't you answer my questions?"

"Maybe because I don't _have_ any answers?" he shot back at her, continuing to lay out his clothing and get ready to bathe. "I don't _think_ the Yakuza are trying to kill me; maybe they wanna meet me over a matter of honor?"

"Yakuza don't _have_ any honor," Yoshi snarled back at him.

"Maybe, maybe not," he returned after a moment, giving the girl a slightly hard look. "I saved someone, and now they wanna talk with me. Maybe they just wanna make sure that I'm not tryin' ta scam 'em, or tryin' ta get somethin' outta them cuz of it." He paused for a moment, and gave a slight shrug. "I mean, if the Yakuza wanted me dead, they'd have tried by now, don'tchya think?"

Yoshi gave him a long, hard look, before that look softened, and she took a couple steps closer, embracing him.

"Just be as careful as you can be, Saotome-san," she offered quietly. "I think of you as a friend, and I don't have too many friends, as you know." The pig-tailed boy nodded against her shoulder, knowing how she was quietly shunned at the school for who she was.

"I _am_ your friend, Yoshi," he returned, "even if we play baseball in the same field."

The girl gave him another hard look, though this one was less thoughtful; it seemed to silently tell him what a nut he was being. "That's 'bat for the same team', _baka_," she groused, trying not to smirk at him through her dark look.

Ranma didn't bother holding back his smirk. "When you think about it, it's the same difference," he returned.

Yoshi responded by lightly punching him in the arm.

Ranma's first meeting wasn't with the Yakuza; the vehicle that pulled up to the dojo was nothing like the ornate presence of the previous week, but it was a rather quick ride to retrieve Nabiki from the Tendo dojo, and then on to a clear field where a helicopter awaited. The pair of teenagers was led into the aircraft, and rapidly pushed into the air. The aqua-transexually cursed young man had never been so high in the sky as he was, riding the helicopter, and he was fascinated by just how much of the Tokyo skyline he could see from up there. The ride itself was also fairly quick, and before long the aircraft was coming down to earth on a fairly large-sized estate on the outskirts of Tokyo. As with everything so far, he- and Nabiki- was quickly whisked from the helicopter and escorted into a fairly large home; it was very nicely appointed, but he got the feeling that it wasn't as glaring and garish as it could have been, something he silently approved of.

"Oh my gosh, we're really here!" Nabiki gushed in a whisper, as if fearful that a shout would have her removed. Ranma looked at her, eyebrow raised, a slight smirk gracing his lips.

"Ahem," Nabiki cleared her throat, and tried to pretend she hadn't just been acting like a fangirl, "This is pretty serious, Saotome; you'll have to be on your best manners for the Emperor. No joking around, no challenging anyone, just sit on your butt, and you only speak when you're spoken to."

"I'm not a complete jock," Ranma returned, "and especially not now, now that I'm applying myself." He offered a smirk to counter the slight scowl Nabiki's words had put on his face. "I've actually got a reason- a _good_ reason- to be a better person."

Nabiki returned his smirk with a raised eyebrow of her own, but by then they were at the doors to the office of the Emperor. The functionary who had greeted him the week before spoke briefly with the escort and bodyguard, and then slipped in between the rather impressive double doors, and for a few moments, they were quiet.

The functionary returned, and bade both Ranma and Nabiki to enter; he stopped the pair, and gestured for Nabiki to have a seat, and then drew Ranma a further couple of meters closer to the very elegant and ornate chair that sat in the center of the rear portion of the room. The man then left though a side door, near the rear of the room.

Ranma turned back to look at Nabiki, as if to ask a question; she looked back at him, shrugging her shoulders. Neither got the time to speak, as approaching footsteps signaled the return of the functionary, along with a very nicely but simply dressed younger man, who appeared to be in his thirties. Dark, shortly cut but styled hair, with facial hair in the style that the Americans called a 'goatee', he stood perhaps a half head taller than the pig-tailed boy.

Ranma whipped around again to look at Nabiki, who spared him a very quick look filled with anxiety. He spun back around, guessing that this was the Emperor. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nabiki stand, and then begin to drop to her knees, and figuring that she knew the right of things, he too dropped down to his knees, assuming a supplicant position, his eyes averted.

"Oh, get up," the young man snapped at the pair.

"Your Eminence! They only show you the deferential respect—" began the functionary, only to be silenced.

"Hanzo, be quiet," the Emperor tossed at the older man, who fell quiet immediately. The younger male then turned back towards Ranma, who was now peeking from his position on the floor.

"Please get up," he offered softly, gesturing to the pair of teens. "I may be the Emperor, but I am also simply a man. There's no need for the theatrics."

Cautiously, Ranma got up from his position on the floor, and took a quick glance back to take notice of Nabiki doing the same.

"Please have a seat," the Emperor continued, "We're here as men, not as politicians." He gave a faint ghost of a smile. "I'm pretty sure that the politicians wouldn't have risked their lives to save my son, as you have Saotome-san."

Ranma blinked owlishly at him, wondering briefly how the man knew his name, when no one had made any introductions.

"I'm the Emperor," the man continued, "and when you saved my son Horatio, we—the family—wanted to know more about the young man who had done such a deed, whether it was some stunt to get into my good graces, or an honest-to-goodness heroic event. We had you very thoroughly investigated."

Ranma's look shifted, becoming slightly wary. He was used to dealing with Nabiki and how she doled out information, and she had a pretty good poker face, revealing nothing. But somehow, he could tell that the Emperor had her beat all ways to Sunday; his face seemed to be bright and open, but his eyes were carefully uncommunicative.

"So I know a great deal about you, Saotome-san. I know the things that have been perpetrated in your name, by a Saotome Genma; I assume that he is your father?"

"Yeah," the pig-tailed boy offered through a dry throat.

"Be assured that I hold none of that against you, Saotome-san, and where it would bring you harm, I've used what influence my position as Emperor carries to set into motion events that will clear your name so that you may enjoy life more fully, especially as I have heard that you now have a daughter; is that right?"

"Yes," Ranma returned, "I mean, yes, your Eminence."

The man scoffed. "Call me Kenji," the Emperor offered. "As I said, I may be the Emperor, but I am also simply a man."

"If you will call me Ranma, I will call you Kenji, your Eminence."

Kenji the Emperor smiled. "Ranma…Ranma-san, it is," he grinned. "I was going to call you Ranma-_kun_, but then I have to remember that you are a parent as I am, and so you are a man, not a child."

Ranma gave him a slight bow. "Thank you, Kenji-san."

Kenji returned the slight bow in even measure, and then moved to finally sit down in his chair. At his gesture, Ranma- and a surprisingly still silent Nabiki- also took their seats.

"So let us be men," Kenji smiled widely, "And we'll get down to why I asked to meet with you." The Emperor stood again, and paced briefly in front of his chair. "Saotome-san, I will be plain. You have saved the life of my first-born and only son, and I feel that I am in your debt for what you have done. I wish to reward you, to give you gifts, for saving the life of my Nogoru."

Behind him, the aqua-transsexual could hear a gasp come from his companion; he spared a quick glance back at the middle Tendo girl, but largely kept his gaze upon the Emperor.

Ranma thought furiously; there was very little he himself would ask for; to be honest, if not for the sense of honor he sensed from the Emperor- if not directly from the man himself, then at least from his elevated station- he would have already refused. He didn't seek to save the Emperor's son; he did it because he could, and it was the right thing to do, and because he was the only one who could have done so. He hadn't had any thought of a 'reward', then, and for the most part, he still didn't have one.

But he understood that the Emperor's offer was made from a need to reclaim his sense of honor, a need to offer thanks for something that there was no way to truly offer thanks for, a need to offer the pretense of balance; there was no true 'balance' for saving the life of his son, but the Emperor—Kenji—needed to make the offer anyway, needed to make the attempt anyway, in order to restore his honor.

His understanding quick-stepped through his thoughts in perhaps a double pair or heartbeats.

With a slightly nervous swallow, the pig-tailed young man gave a slight nod of his head, acknowledging what was left unspoken in the Emperor's words.

Kenji smiled back at him gently, and then made a gesture in the air. A few moments later, Hanzo returned, with three other men in tow; two of the three men were dressed professionally, like salarymen- one carried a briefcase, while the other carried a small electronic device- while the third carried a large video camera. The man with the video camera began to set the equipment in place, first placing a sturdy tripod on the floor, off to the left of the Emperor, between he and Ranma, and then mounting the camera to the tripod. The other two men took seats behind the pig-tailed young man, near to Nabiki. When the camera-man signaled that he was ready, Hanzo gave a deep, formal bow to the Emperor, and then backed away to sit close to the other two men.

"I do hereby relate before council and witnesses," Kenji began, and then stood gracefully, "that I speak freely and with clear thought and action. I am Emperor Kenji Toshijido, son of Emperor Mitsuki Toshijido, father of Horatio Toshijido, and on this day, I offer these gifts to this young man who has given back to me the life of my son Horatio. Should any wish to challenge the truth and honor of these gifts, it is myself they should dare to challenge, and not this young man who acted with true honor, in service not to his Emperor, but to humanity itself.

"On this day, I offer the gift to this young man, to clear all the debts of his hosting family, that they have served the interests of this young man, and by doing so, have made it possible that this young man would be able to serve the interests of myself the Emperor, and of all humanity with his honor. In addition, I offer the gift of restoration to the home and grounds of his hosting family, that they may regain some of the glory that their name once held, as a clan of Samurai in service to their Lord and to the Empire. Hanzo, please take aside the young woman who has accompanied him, so that I may offer to this young man my other gifts more privately. I will explain the details of my gifts to her family, at a later time." The Emperor paused in his speaking then, and the cameraman pulled a remote control from a pocket, and appeared to stop the recording. Hanzo gestured to Nabiki for her to follow him; she complied, reluctantly, shooting Ranma a look that it him a few minutes to process as 'envy'.

Once Nabiki was gone, and Hanzo had returned, the Emperor signaled to the cameraman to turn the camera back on.

"On this day," the Emperor continued, "I offer the gift of leadership to the clan of this young man, a clan of warriors and of minor nobility dating back prior to the end of the age of the Samurai. From this day forth, by my decree, he will be known as the head of his clan, with all privileges and rights bestowed, and with all responsibilities and problems that such may bring. He will be offered education into what privileges and responsibilities will be his, until such time as he feels that he is capable of shouldering the mantle of his clan on his own.

"On this day, I offer the gift of parental rights and parenthood upon this young man, that he may take upon his shoulders the rights and privileges and responsibilities of being a parent to this young child who has through misfortune come to his care. From this day forth, by my decree, this young child shall be the child of this young man by privilege of adoption, and shall be entered onto the rolls of his clan and shall be a child of this young man and of his clan, and shall be heir to this young man and his clan, unless he should deem otherwise.

"On this day, I offer the gift of financial stability to this young man, in the draft sum amount of one billion yen, in a account created specifically for him, to be able to call upon to use in the care and health of his adopted child. From this day forth, by my decree, this money will be available and accessible to this young man at his whim and at his disposal without restriction, without hindrance and without delay, that he may be wise in its use.

"And finally, though not the least of what gifts I may offer, on this day, I offer the gift of my word, of my backing, as Emperor of Japan, to this young man, Saotome Ranma, that he may be afforded the opportunity to pursue his dreams, whatsoever they may be, and have the opportunity to attend what university he shall desire, in pursuit of that dream. I shall put my word into writing, that he may be able to carry it to the educational institution of his choosing, and be considered worthy of the privilege of learning.

"Do you accept these gifts I have bestowed and decreed upon you, Saotome Ranma?"

Ranma sat there for a few moments, struck silent by the enormity of what Kenji—no, the _Emperor_, had just given him. It was almost too much for him to wrap his mind around. And it was far, far more than his actions deserved. His honor would be lessened if he were to be so greedy and take advantage of the matter.

Slowly, Ranma stood, and then lowered himself to his knees, and then finally prostrated himself in supplication.

"I cannot accept your generosity, your Eminence," he offered quietly, but to the silent room was as clear as a shout. "I did nothing but act as I would wish any one in my position would act, to save the lives of many children. That your son was one of them is fortunate, your Eminence, but does not change the fact that _every_ child means to their parent as much as your child means to you. I did what I did for those reasons, your Eminence, and your generosity is more than my actions deserve."

Ranma continued to prostrate himself before the _Emperor_, until the other man's voice commanded him otherwise.

"Rise, Saotome, and look at me. Please. Man to man," Kenji offered quietly.

Slowly, hesitantly, Ranma pulled himself up from the floor, and brought his own gaze up to bear on the other man.

"Ranma-san," Kenji began, "what would you give for the life of your daughter?"

"Anything," he shot back quietly, stiffening at the wisp of thought that implied that Sakura was being threatened- just as quickly as the thought had sprung into being, it was replaced by the idea of losing her to something he could prevent, something he could protect her from, and the answer was still the same in his thoughts. She was an _innocent_, and it was his duty, his _honor_, to protect her, even—

"Would you die for her, Saotome?"

"Yes."

"Would you fight for her?"

"Yes."

"Would you do everything in your power to see that she could life and love and laugh and thrive and be a part of the world? Would you do everything in your power to give her all that you could?"

"Yes," Ranma stated, more emphatically this time.

"And if her life were in danger, if she would have died without help, and someone came along to give her that help, what would you give them in return for your daughter's life?" Kenji shot back, his voice both soft and harsh at the same time, emotion being held by the thinnest of threads.

Ranma swallowed, and suddenly envisioned Sakura in the place of one of those many children, and then thought of what would have happened, if someone like him hadn't been there.

"I would give him everything," he whispered quietly, fighting the sudden emotion and tears that threatened to overtake him.

Kenji nodded, his own eyes bright and wet with unshed tears.

"Can you see why what I offer you is but a token of what I would give? Can you see why I offer you these trifles that I do?" his voice was nearly a whisper, but again crystal clear in the silence of the room. "Can you see why I _must_ offer these gifts to you? Can you see why you must accept what gifts I can offer to you?"

Again, Ranma swallowed, and then not trusting in his ability to speak for a moment, he nodded.

"I do," he risked then, his voice cracking with emotion. "and yes, your Eminence, I will accept your gifts, and use them, as wisely as I am able." Feeling the break of tears imminent, he quickly prostrated himself down on the floor at the feet of the Emperor. "I accept these gifts, your Eminence, to your humble servant, that I may be worthy of what you have given me."

* * *

><p>Authors Notes: It's been a bit since I've looked over the reviews, so I'll just address them as they come to mind.<p>

*Regarding the arrival of Nodoka- I'm considering just how I'll introduce her. But it is a likely possibility.

*Plausibility- this is Ranma we're working with, and this is a) a fairly light-hearted fic, and b) a challenge fic. It's not meant to be "real", so much as it's a story that has developed in my head that I want to get out. If you're not convinced that it's a good story, stop reading.

*Sakura- It hasn't been established in the story, but for all intents and purposes, we'll just go with the idea that her mother had no other family that one could find- if you do remember, he didn't know the baby's name, and no one thought to tell Ranma the name of the mother, so why would he look for her?

For now, I think that's 'caught up' with the most recent reviews.


	10. Baby Daddy - Side Two

Growing Pains

**Baby Daddy**

Side Two

…from the previous chapter…

"_Ranma-san," Kenji began, "what would you give for the life of your daughter?"_

"_Anything," he shot back quietly._

"_Would you die for her, Saotome?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Would you fight for her?"_

"_Yes."_

"_And if her life were in danger, if she would have died without help, and someone came along to give her that help, what would you give them in return for your daughter's life?" _

"_I would give him everything," he whispered quietly, fighting the sudden emotion and tears that threatened to overtake him. _

"_Can you see why what I offer you is but a token of what I would give? Can you see why I offer you these trifles that I do?" his voice was nearly a whisper, but again crystal clear in the silence of the room. "Can you see why I must offer these gifts to you? Can you see why you must accept what gifts I can offer to you?"_

"_I do," he risked then, his voice cracking with emotion. "I accept these gifts, your Eminence, to your humble servant, that I may be worthy of what you have given me."_

* * *

><p>Ranma made a fast friend in the Emperor, and Kenji-san- Kenji- was very gracious to give him his personal contact information. When the two finally parted, Hanzo- the retainer to the Emperor- had taken him to a computer room, where he'd shown him that yes, the Emperor- Kenji- had been very serious in his gifts; the aquatransexual now had an account with a very respectable- and very well-known- bank, full to the brim with yen. Ranma had made a silent vow to consider sharing a small portion of his funds with Nabiki, for all of her help with him over the years. Kasumi, too, he thought as well; she had been at least as much help over the years as Nabiki, if not much more so, and she deserved to be thanked, too.<p>

The young martial artist sat down with Detseru, and talked with him briefly about what the Emperor had done for him. The older man had offered to help him move to another location if he wished, but Ranma expressed to Detseru-san that he would need to think on the matter some more before he made any decisions. Yoshi offered her 'five yen' when he told her a bit about his visit with the Emperor, and after his excitement and storytelling of the day, he spent the rest of the evening playing with Sakura, realizing once again just how precious she was, and feeling very blessed to be able to be her father.

The morning brought warmth, sunshine, and a knock at his door from Yoshi, offering to keep an eye on Sakura while he attended his other appointment; the teen girl was apprehensive on his behalf about who he was dressing up to meet this time, but seemed for the moment to keep her own counsel on the matter.

His outfit this time was a more casual- and yet more business-like- version of his usual attire; his pants were instead very well cultured silk slacks, and his shirt a western-style silk blend dress-style, over which he wore a dark 'sport' jacket. On his feet were a pair of more durable, but still flexible dark leather shoes. He took a good look in the mirror, and deemed himself worthy. Not so stiff and formal in his selection that he would seem too serious, but not so casual that he would be taken too lightly, either. And while he didn't really _know_ the Yakuza, he knew that there were folks for whom appearances were very important, and he needed to appear nice enough not to be threatening, but tough enough not to be toyed with.

Promptly at the time the 'salaryman' had discussed with him prior, a large vehicle- a limousine- pulled up in front of the dojo; Ranma was already waiting, and he quickly slipped inside the vehicle. One extra stop later, and Nabiki was sitting across from him on the other side of the rear of the vehicle, very slightly fidgeting, seeming to be as nervous as he felt. He understood her nervousness though, and that helped him to calm his own nerves.

The limousine drove the pair of teens to a small office building on the edge of the greater downtown Tokyo area, where the two were escorted into the lobby. Four men, almost obviously bodyguard-types as they were all dressed in black suits and wore sunglasses, stood at the cardinal points of the lobby, close enough to the lone desk- which contained two more bodyguard-types- to be of help if needed, but far enough to be able to watch and cover one another.

Ranma noticed this as one of the bodyguards at the desk stood, and began to approach them. The teen male took a couple steps forward, putting himself between the man and Nabiki.

"May we help you?" the guard began, pausing just out of easy reach. Where his companions were more than passingly intimidating to the average person, the guard who stood before them was quiet and seemingly soft-spoken; his sunglasses were tucked into the breast pocket of his suit jacket. His face was more open, his expression was what the pig-tailed martial artist later thought of as 'congenial'- an oddity among his peers, the boy had thought. He was slightly smaller than the other guards in stature and build, but he moved a bit more fluidly than the others, Ranma noticed, and decided that this one was likely more dangerous than the others, or if not more dangerous, at least someone he needed to keep his attention focused upon more.

"We have an appointment," Nabiki commented, stepping just to the side of her companion. "I am Tendo Nabiki and my escort is Saotome Ranma."

Ranma noticed the guards in his field of view stiffen, ever so slightly, at the mention of his name. He did the same.

"Yes, you are expected," the guard before them spoke again. "If you will please step forward so that we may search you…" He allowed the rest of the sentence to drop off.

Ranma stepped in front of Nabiki again, a very clear signal this time. "You cannot search her," he spoke softly.

"Why may I not?" the guard asked in a quiet, pleasant tone. Almost immediately on the heels of his words, Nabiki also spoke. "Saotome," she chided, lightly slapping a palm onto his shoulder, "He's just doing his job. It's fine."

"Nabiki, you're a-" he turned to face her; he was about to say "girl", but decided almost immediately to amend his words, in part so as not to sound so childish in front of the guards. "Woman," he finished, then continued, "And they're men; if you have to be searched, they should have a woman do that."

Nabiki pursed her lips, giving Ranma a slightly disappointed look. "They're just doing what they're told, Saotome," she repeated. "I don't think they mean us any harm, at least not yet."

"Your companion is correct," the guard spoke, catching Ranma's attention and making him turn around to face him again. "We are appointed with the safety of all, be they employees or merely guests; it is our task to see to that safety to the best of our abilities." He paused, then continued, "Perhaps if we use this metal-detection device? would that be agreeable?"

The guard turned slightly and reached out to the guard still at the desk, who provided a thick, heavy cudgel-like device, with a few electronics lighting up along its length. Ranma turned to Nabiki, who gave a disinterested gesture of agreement, and then turned back to the guard, nodding.

Ranma stepped to the side, out of Nabiki's path but not so far that he couldn't be near her in the space of a heartbeat if needed. Nabiki stepped forward, and held her arms up and straight out perpendicular to her sides when the guard indicated. He began at her feet, even though it was clear to see to the untrained eye that the young woman was concealing little, if any. He continued until the point where the young woman's tasteful pencil skirt took over- just at knee length- and continued waving the device up her body in small increments until it emitted an loud electronic squeal, just at bust-level.

Ranma tensed slightly, doing his best to hold still lest his tension kick off hostilities- he could likely take care of himself, and could remotely even escape relatively unscathed, if he were only concerned about himself. But with Nabiki here, and his pledge to protect her, his best option at the moment was to wait and see what happened next.

And what happened next was that the guard continued to wave the device over the mercenary young woman, until he was satisfied that the only place worth investigating was the first- and only- place discovered thus far.

"If you would please," the guard spoke, gesturing politely at her, and taking a couple of steps back. The other guards tensed, Ranma could see, but so far seemed to be holding themselves back from doing anything.

Nabiki nodded, and then slowly slipped her hand inside of her jacket, and then equally slowly withdrew it, holding a small canister. The guard held out his hand, and with the same measured movement, she placed the canister there.

"It's a homemade aerosolized pepper spray," she explained. "A bit of juice from wasabi and some thai chili peppers. It's perfectly legal, and effective against folks who would try to harm a poor, defenseless young woman."

"Nabiki!" Ranma couldn't constrain himself any longer, "What in the world did you think you were doing? They thought you had a weapon; they could have shot you!"

The young woman glanced back over her shoulder and somehow managed to toss him a chiding look.

"Saotome," she sighed with exasperation, "they would have been more suspicious of me if they hadn't found anything to be suspicious of." She shook her head. "And it's not like I always have you or any of the rest of the Nerima Wrecking Crew pulling bodyguard duty for me. I do have to protect myself."

"We will not shoot you for a small canister of pepper spray," the guard offered a polite smile. "Either of you, to be clear. It is understood why the young woman carries some protection of her own, but," and here he turned to more clearly address Nabiki, "we will have to keep your protection here in our control, until you are ready to leave the building. Again, it is for the safety of all, employees and guests alike."

Nabiki pursed her lips at that, and gave another exasperated sigh. "I understand," she remarked.

"Thank you," the guard gave her a slight bow.

Once the guard was finished dealing with Nabiki, she stepped to the side and then it was Ranma's turn.

"I have nothing on me," Ranma commented, belatedly considering that perhaps they were, again, just doing their jobs, and that part of the job was to make sure he didn't have any weapons on him, even if he told them that he didn't. Thinking about that, he gave a brief nod to himself on the matter; if it meant that he could lose his job, or even his life, if he were to trust the wrong person, he wouldn't simply take the word of another, either.

The guard took his time checking over the martial artist, only putting away the metal detection device when he seemed satisfied that Ranma was unarmed. The guard stepped away, and gestured for Ranma to join Nabiki. A moment later he stepped back near to them, and gestured for the pair of teens to follow him as he reached what appeared to be an elevator; he confirmed that by pressing the call button.

When the elevator doors opened, two more bodyguard-types stood to either side of the doors, facing one another. The teen martial artist moved first, gently taking the hand of his companion and lightly pulled her behind him into the elevator, where he turned and pulled her behind him, pressed up against the back wall, making it clear that he was protecting her. Nabiki gave only two futile tugs against his determination before she decided that she could suffer a bit of overprotectiveness from him, just this once.

The ride up in the elevator was carried out in complete silence, but it wasn't a very long journey, and the doors opened out into a hallway where another pair of guards stood in attendance at a pair of closed doors at the end of the hallway, where the salaryman Ranma had met previously waited for them.

"Come with me," he spoke softly, "I will take you to see Sempai."

The man gestured to the pair of teens, and behind him the doors were opened by the two guards, and the three of them quietly strode into the room.

The room they stepped into would have been more comfortably called a conference room than an office, though it did indeed look like a very well-appointed office. At the far end of the room lay a rather large, but quietly tasteful glass and metal desk, before which sat a couple of comfortable looking chairs sat across from a small futon, between which sat a glass coffee table.

Closer to the center of the room, sat a large, glass conference table, around which sat seven men; six of them were clearly subservient to the seventh, who sat at the head of the table. His hair was slightly longish, hanging down to just about his shoulders, and was vaguely messy-looking, but in the manner of one who usually kept it bound, and was allow it freedom on this occasion. He wore a pair of designer sunglasses- unlike the guards- and wore a suit jacket over a dress shirt with the top three buttons undone, exposing a bit of his chest and a small bit of jewelry displayed there.

The man at the head of the table looked up at them as they entered the room, and conversation seemed to come to an immediate halt. The man gestured for the salaryman to come to his side, and the two had a quick moment of conversation.

"Our business is concluded for now," the man all called Sempai announced, and the six men seated around the long conference table stood up, and headed for the door.

"Please, Saotome-san, Tendo-san, enjoy my hospitality. Have a seat, if you will. My assistant Sung-Mai will provide refreshments if you desire them." The door closed quietly, leaving the pair of teens with the man called Sempai, the salaryman, and a young woman- Sung-Mai- who moved to a bar in the corner near the door and began to gather together glasses and other items on a tray.

Ranma looked towards Nabiki, and then with a nod from her, moved to her side to sit down at the table.

"Thank you for accepting my invitation, Saotome-san; I believe I know a bit about you, and while it might be that my reputation as a….business man, may be…very physical, I wish to assure you that my invitation was just that, an invitation. I wished to thank you for your timely assistance, and I wish to speak with you, man to man, if you wish it. I give you my words, upon my honor, that I have no intentions of harm to either you or the lovely Tendo-san."

Ranma frowned a bit, and once again glanced over at Nabiki, who glanced back at him with an expression that seemed both surprised and relieved.

"Please allow me to introduce myself; I am Xio Fong, and I am the…CEO of our….business organization. But I am also a father, as you are well aware of, and it is as a father I wish to speak with you."

Ranma gave a brief nod of his head, a gesture for the older man to continue.

Xio Fong sat back in his chair and removed his sunglasses; and almost before the teen martial artists' eyes, he could see the man shed a bit of the shell he seemed to be wearing, the shell he figured that the man wore in front of his underlings on a daily basis; he suddenly seemed less intimidating, and more human.

"I love my son," Xio Fong said quietly. "My world would be a darker place without him in it. And for that, Saotome-san, I thank you. I thank the Kami for your intervention, for allowing you to be the instrument of His will that allowed for my son to continue to live. For that, you have my eternal gratitude. What things you may wish to have, within my abilities to give, I will give to you, if you will accept them."

Ranma was quiet, but it was of the thoughtful quiet. Xio Fang, a man of murder and lawlessness, and Kenji, a man of power and nobility. Two men, with nearly the same message. _Thank you for the life of my child. And for that life, I give you the world. _

He hadn't done it for the world. He hadn't done it for any thought or idea of some physical gain. He hadn't done it for anything more than because it was the right thing to do, and he was in the right place at the right time to do that right thing.

"I didn't do it for some sort of gain," Ranma said, speaking his thoughts aloud.

"And yet that is exactly why I must give to you, Saotome-san," Xio Fong returned. "You gave of yourself, without seeking something more. There is nothing that can be a sufficient reward for the sacrifice you give, and so I offer the best of what I am able to do, to…to honor that what you gave."

"I understand, Xio Fong-san," Ranma returned quietly; he _did_ understand; he'd gone through the same with the Emperor the day before. "I will accept that which you are able to give, to honor your desire and abilities to satisfy honor." He gave a gentle bow from his seated position, and the Yakuza lord returned the gesture.

"I wish to ask of but a few small things," Ranma began, and then paused, thinking.

"Name them," Xio Fong replied, sitting up a bit taller in his chair now. The mask was back, not fully, but more so than before; he was on more familiar ground here, the teen supposed.

"I ask that you leave the Tendo clan alone."

Xio Fong blinked a couple of times, before he responded. "I have no troubles with the Tendo clan," he offered, a smile beginning to form on his lips, "though as for Tendo Nabiki…I have heard much about her, and to be honest I only wished to talk with her about working with….with my organization. In an honorable fashion, of course."

"Honorable?" Ranma intoned, stressing the word, expressing his disbelief.

"Honorable," Xio Fong repeated. "She has the ear of those who would either be able to help us, or who we may be able to offer help to. There is much skill, much talent there, and I would be quite able to take advantage of such skill and talent. She would not be placed in harms way, and she would eventually be something of an information broker, with our organization as one of her clients, as it were."

"I don't think-" Ranma began

"I could possibly live with that," Nabiki interrupted him.

"Nabi-ki!" the pig-tailed teen turned towards her, growling softly.

"Saotome, look" she shot back at him, her tone that of one speaking to a child, "I get it that you're trying to look out for me, but right at this moment all…Xio Fong-san has said is that he wants to talk. Now that I don't think he's going to have me killed in a bloody display in front of the school gates, I'm willing to talk. I can always back out….can't I?" she added, turning towards Xio Fong. Ranma did the same, looking intently at the other man.

Xio Fong nodded gently. "It is only a discussion, for now, and should the lovely Tendo-san decide that she does not wish to seek a mutually beneficial relationship, I would agree that so long as neither she nor any members of her family sought to cause harm or discontent to myself or those of my organization, I would leave the Tendo clan in peace."

Ranma frowned, pursing his lips a bit, but then nodded. "I suppose I can ask no more than that," he remarked.

"Indeed," Xio Fong returned.

The aquatranssexual teen pursed his lips at that response, but didn't attempt to counter it.

"If I may, Fong-san?" he continued, "I would also ask the same of you for my clan."

Xio Fong frowned at that. "Saotome-san, you have saved the life of my child," he responded, sounding confused. "I have no ill will whatsoever for you or your clan; I am confused as to why you would ask that I 'leave your clan alone'?"

The teen male sighed. "My father," he began.

"Ahh," Xio Fong grinned now, "I see. Yes, we have had interactions with your father on occasion." His grin became something of a smirk. "I think I understand now why you ask what you ask." He offered a bow of his head. "I will make a counter offer to you? Perhaps…we will leave your clan alone and in peace, so long as no one other than your father offers cause harm or discontent to myself or those of my organization, and that I will…attempt to limit our actions to our encounters with your father to the minimum of our usual responses."

"I thank you," Ranma responded, giving the gentle bow once again. "I only have one more thing I would like to ask of you, Fong-san," he continued; the older man nodded, indicating that he go on. "I would like to ask, if you would…if your…organization, would…could, act with more honor." He held up his hand to forestall the older man, who had begun to open his mouth. "I don't mean to imply that you…that your organization has no honor, Fong-san; I mean to ask, if your organization would do _more_. I can't ask you to give charity to all who need it, but I would like to ask if maybe you might try to…" He paused, thinking quickly. "I am a martial artist," he tried another train of thought, "and it is a part of my duty to protect those who aren't as able to protect themselves as I, when I can be of help. I'd like to ask if you might…if your organization might try and do the same."

Xio Fong blinked for a moment, and then laughed softly. "I…" he chuckled again, before getting himself under control. "That is definitely an unusual request," he grinned. "But coming from you, and what I know of you, Saotome-san, I will at least take it into consideration; I can promise no more than that right now."

"Thank you for your consideration, Fong-san," Ranma smiled gently. "That is all I would ask of you."

Xio Fong's smile gently faded into a more impassive look. "But you've asked for so little!" he remarked. "Allow me to offer to pay for your daughter's education! I won't accept 'no' for an answer, Saotome-san, and I believe you cannot refuse; what father would deny his child an education?"

Ranma opened his mouth to protest, but found that he couldn't. As Xio Fong had said, what father would deny his child an education? And while he remembered the rather large sum of money that the Emperor had given him yesterday, he hadn't yet thought about what he would _do_ with that money. And further, while what he'd received likely would be quite enough to take care of Sakura, making sure that her education was secure, in the event that something happened to him, was definitely something that appealed to the new father in him.

"As you say, Fong-san, I cannot refuse; I am not a father who would deny his child an education," Ranma gave another bit of a bow.

"And I have heard through various means that you are having some problems with housing; allow me to give you a small property I am…settling on, that you may be able to raise your child in peace and security. I cannot imagine that a father would desire less for his child, no?"

Ranma chuckled despite himself. "No, Fong-san, and so I accept these gifts of yours, but it would not be honorable for me to take more from you than this."

Xio Fong seemed to pull himself short at that, but only for a brief moment. "Very well, Saotome-san. I will not make further offers at this time, but I will say that if you ever have a favor you need of me, please do not hesitate to ask. I will attempt to be of help if you require it."

* * *

><p>"See, Saotome?" Nabiki smirked at him as they walked out of the building and into the sunlight, striding towards the limo that had brought them to the Yakuza offices in the first place. "Nothing to worry about."<p>

Ranma shook his head, smirking gently to himself, even as the other teen began calling her informant network to gather everyone together. _He_ hadn't been the one who was so worried, but he decided not to remind her of that. Besides, he could now see a future for himself and Sakura, and it wasn't a bad vision at all.


	11. Interlude: Winner's Circle

Growing Pains

Winner's Circle

Ranma slowly paced back and forth as he waited for his invitees; he wasn't nervous that they wouldn't show up- nor was he nervous in any way, really; he was concerned about what he would have to do to demonstrate just how seri—

"Hey Ranchan!" Ukyou called to him as she came close enough to be heard. Quietly, he sighed; he knew she was going to be the most difficult to deal with, in part because she was the most rational- and the one who would be the hardest to get to through to. He gave her a brief nod of his head as she approached.

"Have a seat, Ukyou," he offered to her, pre-empting more conversation, as she drew even closer to him. "I've invited the others here; I need to get things straight with all of you."

"The others?" Ukyou returned reflexively, and then nodded at his continued explanation. "Oh," she remarked. "Alright." She smiled then, softly, and he sighed again, already seeing that trouble was on its way. The young business woman parked herself on the bench seat he'd indicated, and smiled back at him as he regarded her.

She'd barely taken her seat, then, as the ringing of a bicycle bell warned him of the impending arrival of one of the others, and he quickly counted to three in his head before he performed a quick back spring away from where he'd stood a moment ago. Less than a second later, Shampoo dropped down to the ground- still on her bicycle- right where he'd stood previously.

"Nihao, Airen!" she chirped brightly in her pidgeon Japanese, "You call for meeting, yes?" She dropped the bike onto the ground, and prepared to leap at him.

"Xian Pu," he frowned at her, making sure to pronouce her name correctly, "I called you here to hear my words; have a seat, while we wait for the rest of those who need to be here."

"What you mean, we?" she asked, turning around and spotting Ukyou. "What spatula girl doing here?" she asked, whirling around to look at him with a slightly irritated look on her face.

"I _invited_ her," he growled faintly. "She, _and others,_ will arrive to hear what I have to say. _You will behave."_

Shampoo pursed her lips, looking at him for a few moments as though he were a petulant child, then smiled brightly at him and moved to sit down on another bench.

Even as the chinese teen was sitting down, the final arrival showed up with her trademarked unbalanced laughter. She bound her way into the park proper, and leapt into Ranma's arms, grinning maniacally at him for a moment as she slipped her arms around his shoulders. His grip on her tightened for just a moment, and she smiled even more warmly. "Have you invited these harlots to witness the consummation of our love for one another, my darling Ranma-sama?" she giggled in a husky, breathy voice. She seemed to ignore- or perhaps take delight in- the daggers being stared at her by the other two young women

"Not a chance, Kodachi," he snarled faintly, and moved to set her down on yet another nearby bench- which he did so successfully, to the gymnists' chagrin.

"Wha-? I…I cannot move!" she blurted out, her arms slowly dropping to her sides even as she spoke. "Ranma-sama?" she began.

"It'll wear off in a minute or two, Kodachi," he tossed at her dismissively. "Besides, I invited you here- _all of you_- because I want to tell you that I am dismissing your claims of betrothal. Just in case you didn't get that, that means I am not marrying any of you, and I am no longer bound to marry any of you."

All three of the young women looked at him with horrified expressions, and then all three began to loudly deny his proclamation, and protest that they were indeed going to marry him. Ranma closed his eyes and growled softly, and then focused his concentration into the palm of his hand, raising it for all to see.

"Be _quiet_," he snarled, loudly. "The first person to speak before I let you, gets this," he warned, holding onto the smallish ball of ki sitting in his hand.

"But my darling—" was all Kodachi managed, before Ranma turned to her, and the young girl barely had time to open her eyes wide in surprise before she was rocked in her seat by the diminutive ki blast.

"I said, _be quiet_," he repeated, and took a moment to create another ball of ki in his hand. "I hope you understand the seriousness here. I am _very _serious here, and this is a very serious situation. If I need to demonstrate further, someone may not be getting home under their own power." He turned slowly, looking at each of the women in turn. Both Ukyou and Shampoo looked back at him with serious expressions; Ukyou with a look that was incredulty with a small dollop of fear, Shampoo with a look that was disbelief combined with consideration. Kodachi bore a look that was surprise, but somewhere in there he was pretty sure lay something that was impressed, that saw his display of power as something to be admired and potentially coveted. He decided to lay his cards out.

"First and foremost," and he turned to Ukyou now, "Saotome Genma is no longer head of clan Saotome, and just in case it crosses your mind, Saotome Nodoka does not hold that position either. The current head of the clan has decided to dissolve all claims laid on me, Saotome Ranma, made by Saotome Genma. So what that means for you, Ukyou Kunoji, is that you have three choices. You can choose to appeal to the clan head for adoption into the clan, to satisfy your father's wishes that you become a Saotome. You can choose to speak to the clan head and ask for reparations for the loss of your business cart when you were a child. Or you can choose not to accept either of those choices, and be heartbroken and disappointed. But you no longer have a choice of marrying me."

Ukyou opened her already open mouth to protest, but the words died unborn on her lips as Ranma aimed his palm in her direction.

He then turned towards Shampoo. "Xian Pu," he repeated carefully, "I have had enough of your actions and behavior. I _don't care_ if _your _laws state that I am to be your husband. _You_ carry _your_ laws with _you_ to tell _you _how _you_ should act as a member of your tribe when you are not at _your_ home. Your laws _don't _apply to me, and I _will not be bound by _your_ laws_. From now on, you are just a guest here in Japan, and if you try from now on to do _anything_ to try and claim me as a husband, or even as breeding stock, without my direct permission, I will treat you and all Amazons as an enemy. And you can see what I do to those who I might have _liked_."

He walked up closer to Shampoo, who looked back at him with a defiant, almost seething gaze. "I don't care if deep in your heart you think I'm some second-class male like those in your tribe, who you can make bend to your will. I am _not_ Chinese, I am _not_ second class, and you will not _ever_ break me." he snarled at her, his teeth clenched and his brow furrowed darkly. He pulled back a bit, his features softening. "It doesn't have to be this way, though, Xian Pu; don't make yourself and your people my enemy."

He backed off, and then turned to Kodachi, who opened her mouth to speak. Without even imagining that she would be encouraged to be quiet by the threat of being blasted again, he aimed his hand at her and let loose anyway, rocking her with another ki blast.

"I told you already that you need my permission to speak, Kodachi, and I haven't given it yet," he snarled, his tone lighter than what he'd used with Shampoo. "And as for you? You never had a true claim of betrothal, and you've not been recognized by the clan head as being worthy of betrothal. You may _attempt _to speak to the clan head and see if clan Kuno is worthy of consideration, but until such time as that happens, your claim of betrothal to Saotome Ranma is _denied_."

He moved back to where everyone could see him again.

"Do you have anything to say? Kunoji?"

"But I love you!" Ukyou blurted out. "We're supposed to get married and—"

"And what, Kunoji?" he interrupted her; he hated to see the way she winced whenever he called her by her last name, but he had to make her see the facts. "Get married, run a restaurant together, and then when the babies come along, I watch them and take care of them while you fulfill your lifelong dream of being wife of Saotome Ranma, mother of his children, and successful businesswoman?"

"Well, yeah," she offered, clearly uncertain now if her answer was the one Ranma wanted to hear from her.

"Kunoji, what about me?" he countered. "What about Saotome Ranma? Did you ever ask him what his dreams were? Did you ever ask him how he felt about the idea of marriage, of being betrothed to someone he knew as a _boy_ when he was a child?"

"But Ranchan—" she tried.

"Is Saotome Ranma supposed to marry you, Kunoji?" he interrupted her again.

She took a brief moment to hear the question. "Yes!" she blurted.

"And _why_ is Saotome Ranma _supposed _to marry you, Kunoji?" he cut her off.

"B-because," she stammered, stopped, then began again, "because our fathers—"

"But Saotome Genma isn't the head of clan Saotome, Kunoji- and you know that now. So why is Saotome Ranma _supposed_ to marry you?"

"Because I love him!" she wailed angrily. "And he's supposed to love me, too!"

"Why?" he shot back at her, his tone defiant.

"Because I'm the one he thinks of as cute!" she snarled through the tears beginning to stream down her face. "Because I can cook, and I don't try to treat him like a prize to be won!" she whipped her head around to snarl at Shampoo, almost frothing at the mouth. "I can make him happy!"

"And who decides if _you_ are the one who can make him happy, Kunoji?" he frowned softly. "A better question: has Saotome Ranma, has he, have I, ever said any of these things to you? Yes, I called you cute, but did I ever say anything about you making me happy? about wanting to marry you?"

"No," she cried softly, and began to sob, lowering her head into her hands.

Ranma looked at her with discomfort, with regret and sorrow, and some small bit of pity. And then he hardened his heart, and turned towards Shampoo.

"And you, Xian Pu? Do you have anything to say?" he offered in a diffident tone.

"Tribal law say you Shampoo husband," she offered with quiet defiance.

["I not of tribe,"] Ranma remarked in broken Chinese, surprising the Amazon teen. ["Tribe law, not _my_ law."]

["It doesn't matter if you're not of the tribe,"] Shampoo growled at him, standing to her feet, looking like she wanted to fly at him, ["The law of the tribe applies wherever the tribe _says_ it applies!"]

["Not to me!"] Ranma roared back at her. ["I _die_ before I _let_ tribe tell _me_ my life!"] He switched back to Japanese, "I will die before I _allow_ anyone to live my life for me, anymore!" He stood, fists clenched to his sides, his body tense. Shampoo continued to glare at him defiantley.

Abruptly, he turned away from her, dismissing her. It was deliberate on his part, knowing that his being a 'mere male' according to her tribal laws, dismissing her as an annoyance would infuriate her, but he believed that she wasn't yet ready to cross the line between where she was, and becoming an enemy, so it was a justifiable calculation on his part.

"And Kodachi? Any last words?" he asked.

The black leotard-clad gymnist swallowed gently. "How would I gain the audience of the head of clan Saotome, that I may make him see reason as to why Ranma-sama and I are destined to be together?" she asked quietly.

Now _that _was unexpected; he was actually caught a bit off-guard with her comment. He was still for a moment, parsing just what it was she'd said, before he could formulate a response.

"In six months, Kodachi," he spoke carefully, "and not a day before, you may seek me out, and I will arrange an appointment between yourself and the head of clan Saotome. I promise nothing, and I have no interest in you, Kuno-san, but you will be able to speak your desires to the head of my clan."

Kodachi smiled then, a smile that stated to all that while her endeavors were momentarily derailed, they were not brought to a halt. He sighed then, and very gently shook his head. He turned his attentions back to the other two young women, as well.

"I will marry when _I_ am ready to marry, and I will marry who _I _want to marry," he looked at each of them in turn. "And right now, there is no one on my list of people to marry. And yes, that includes Tendo Akane; she broke our engagement and our family honor agreement, so I will not consider her for marriage, either. I am a single male who has no wife, no fiancee, and no girlfriend. I am a single father, and perhaps I could use some friends, some _real_ friends, who might want to help me raise my daughter. But from this moment on, any attempts by anyone to try and convince me to marry them…I will deal with them very harshly.

"I'm done, ladies. Friends? Maybe. Fiancees? Not unless it's my choice. Don't like it? Tough. Now go home, cuz that's where I'm going."

And with a brief shimmer, he cloaked himself in the Umisenken, and disappeared.


	12. Winds of Change

**Author's Note:**

As you can see, this story has not been abandoned. Apparently, since the last time I posted- which is almost exactly a year ago (371 days, in fact)- **Life** decided that I needed a bit more on my plate, health-wise. Oh, I'm somewhat better now, but it was a good six months where I couldn't pay attention to the story at all for trying to cope with what seemed to be going on with my body. But we're in the home stretch with this story, and after this, I foresee only one more chapter. But for those of you who have stuck around, I thank you sincerely. And I already have a completely different Ranma ½ story in the works- it'll be vastly larger and longer and more character detailed than this. Admittedly, don't look for it before the beginning of the year, or maybe not until this time next year- but please do look for it. Again, I thank you.

And now…

* * *

><p>Growing Pains<p>

**Winds of Change**

…**from the previous chapter…**

_Xio Fong seemed to pull himself short at that, but only for a brief moment. "If you ever have a favor you need of me, please do not hesitate to ask. I will attempt to be of help if you require it." _

_Ranma shook his head, smirking gently to himself. He could now see a future for himself and Sakura, and it wasn't a bad vision at all._

* * *

><p>Kasumi was the first person on his mind most mornings, now, right after Sakura of course; he was growing more and more pleased with being able to share in his life with someone, someone who wasn't trying to use him, or poison him, or harm him, or break his spirit. He was coming to enjoy the simple interaction he had with her, very much; he had to stop himself from calling her more than once a day, mainly because he didn't have much to say. It was easy enough to get lost in his school work, though; once he had begun to really apply himself, the work began to become easier to do. While it would never be a snap, he was pretty sure, he was also pretty sure that he would eventually graduate high school with scores good enough to get him at least looked at by some of the better named universities. And then of course was the Emperor's endorsement, which would definitely get him a foot in the door wherever he chose to try to study. He was aware, to some degree, that he would have to start looking for a good university for studying how to be a successful martial arts instructor, but for the moment that wasn't a high priority on his list.<p>

Kasumi was the first person on his mind most mornings, now, right after Sakura of course, and the morning after his meeting with the Yakuza lord was no different; he called and talked with her in gentle terms, well aware that Nabiki might be listening in to the line. While the middle Tendo knew some of the particulars of the gifts he'd been given, she wasn't aware of them all, and while the middle Tendo had demonstrated a bit of fairness in his dealings with her lately, he wasn't about to hand over information about his newly-found finances or his new status as clan head to the mercenary girl.

Because of their respective schedules, it was nearly three days later before he could meet her at the marketplace, allowing Yoshi to keep an eye on Sakura. The pair wandered through the marketplace, Kasumi making purchases for the family, and Ranma acting as pack-mule for her- and making a mental note of the prices, that he could swing by later and buy food for himself and Sakura, as well- and discussing the events of the past few days, as well as the nascent thoughts of the future he was having.

"Kasumi," he began tentatively, "do you think I've been making the right choices? I mean, a lot of things have happened in the last week or so, and sometimes I feel like I've just been reacting, rather than making real decisions. And I've never wanted to really hurt anyone, but…being a dad has changed a whole lot of stuff; do you think I've been doing the right things?"

Kasumi was quiet and thoughtful as she turned to look at him. "I think you've been doing the best you can, under the circumstances," she allowed, turning away again to continue walking. "And I do know your spirit, Ranma, and I know that you do try to do your best." She gave a very quiet sigh. "I'm sure that Akane would have been pleased to hear about your conversation with the others, but I will say that that is not a conversation I will have with her; that is up to you to decide if she's worthy of the information."

Ranma nodded thoughtfully, and Kasumi continued, "If I were in your shoes, I don't think I would have made any different choices, so I think you've done well." She offered a gentle smile. "But you don't need my approval, Ranma; you're maturing, and you're a father now."

"I think I understand what you mean," he remarked, "but still, it's nice to be able to have someone in my life to bounce this stuff off of. It's nice to have someone

around who listens to me." He stopped for a moment, turning towards her some; Kasumi stopped and looked at him. "Thank you for being here for me," he offered, and then leaned in close and kissed her on the cheek.

Kasumi blushed deeply, gazing back at him for a moment with surprise in her expression, before she turned away, ducking her head some, and smiling very softly.

The young pair eventually wound their way back to the Tendo home, chatting amicably along the way. It wasn't until he had finished helping Kasumi put away her purchases, that trouble arrived in the form of Genma, standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

"Boy!" he roared, "It's about time you came home! We need to have a talk; you've been out there on the streets long enough!"

Ranma pursed his lips and frowned at his father, shaking his head gently to himself. "_We_ don't need to have a talk, Pops; but I've got a few minutes, so I'll listen to you for a moment while _you_ talk." Ranma gently pushed past his father, and strode into the main room, his father close on his heels.

"That baby has made you disrespectful of your elders," Genma groused loudly. "And it's high time that this nonsense stopped!"

"And what nonsense is that, Pop?" Ranma tossed back at him.

"This whole baby nonsense, that's what!" the panda-man exclaimed. His voice carried far enough to draw others of the Tendo family to the father and son discussion, and within moments, everyone was present, though for the moment all were quiet. Genma looked around, taking note of his audience, and smiled grimly.

"Boy, I demand that you stop this foolish and disrespectful behavior!" he proclaimed, "You'll turn that baby over to the authorities and then come back home here where you belong! Or else!"

"Or else what?" he challenged; he suddenly had a decent idea of what his father was about to attempt.

"Or else I will have you removed from the clan roster," he announced with dark triumph.

A pair of gasps coursed through the room- one from the Tendo patriarch, the other from the youngest Tendo.

"You can't do that," Ranma announced, injecting just enough sarcasm into his voice to be heard as quiet panic or dismay.

"I can, and I will!" Genma offered the barest of smirks, looking around at those within hearing. "As the head of our branch of clan Saotome, I-"

"No, Pops, you can't do that," the pigtailed teen countered, "_You_ can't do that. You're not the clan head anymore."

"Of course I'm the clan head!" Genma's attention focused upon him with a razor sharp intensity. "We can go down to the town hall right now, and see-"

"That the Emperor has removed you from being the head of the clan," Ranma interrupted.

"Wh-wh-what?" the stout martial artist stammered. "Boy, that is ridiculous!"

"Not according to the Emperor it isn't," the younger male smiled. "I mean, I did speak with him a few days ago, about rescuing his son last week, so…" He shrugged, smirking.

"Boy, must you lie on top of your disrespect?" Genma growled at him.

"He's telling the truth, uncle Saotome," Nabiki offered, her words causing the older man to turn abruptly to look at her. "I was there with him. I spoke with the Emperor myself."

Genma looked slack-jawed at Nabiki, his head then slowly turning back to regard a smirking Ranma. "I have an official document, if you wanna see it," he grinned now. "It has the official seal of the Emperor."

With slightly trembling hands, Genma reached out to his son, who withdrew a document, folded and sealed with an official-looking stamp, and gave it to his father. Genma opened the envelope, and read its contents, his face growing ashen.

"So you see, Pop, you can't have me taken off of the clan roster," Ranma smiled brightly at him. "And I have some more news for you. All the engagements that you made for me? They've been canceled, and the clans you engaged me to, they're all going to receive letters telling them that they should come to you, to satisfy any issues with regards to the canceled engagements."

Genma's skin grew even more ashen, if that were possible.

"But on the bright side, Pop," the teen male continued, "you'll be happy to know that the Emperor has cleared all of my debts around Japan, and won't be letting anyone else buy things on the status of just our clan name. They'll either have to pay, or they'll have to provide proof of who they are, so there'll be better records of our purchases- I think he called it 'identity theft'."

"I guess that means you won't have to worry about those strange bills you get in Ranma's name anymore, uncle Saotome," Kasumi added brightly. "If I understand correctly, that means that now no one will be able to claim a debt in his name."

Genma's head whipsawed back and forth between Ranma and Kasumi; Nabiki decided to add her five yen worth now.

"And the Emperor cleared all of Ranma's debt to clan Tendo," she remarked quietly, as though her news wasn't as important to the stout martial artist as it truly was. "He'll be able to work or even go to the university without debt holding him back."

Ganma seemed on the verge of passing out, though high spots of color darkened his cheeks and forehead, a sure sign that he was angry, Ranma knew.

"Look what the cat dragged in," a young female voice called out into the silence.

The aqua transsexual teen turned his attentions towards one of the only people left in the room who hadn't yet spoken.

"Hello, Tendo-san," he replied in formal Japanese, and bowed low to the ground, almost dropping to his knees to do so. "Forgive my lying, cheating, worthless self in your presence; I was merely offering my assistance to your sister by helping bring her purchases home. By your leave, I will remove myself from the sunshine of your beauty."

The Tendo in question glared at him.

"I hope you didn't think I'd fall for your lies about you being free of all the other engagements, and think I'd take you back; you can grovel all you want, but I'm not forgiving you," she snarled at him,

The pigtailed teen stood up, and looked her in the eyes, his expression cold and unfriendly. His tone was light and very submissive as he spoke, however: "I would never seek to become worthy of your forgiveness, Tendo-san, as you have demonstrated to my lying, cheating, worthless self that such a goal is impossible to reach."

He turned away from her, and opened his mouth to speak- either to Nabiki, or Kasumi, neither knew- but then Akane grabbed at his arm.

Ranma held himself rock still, and then slowly looked over his shoulder at her. To her credit, she released her grip.

"Whadda you mean by that? Channelling Kuno?" she shot back at him.

"What it means is I was trying to be nice to you, _Tendo_," he all but spat at her. "I've had time to think about a lot of things, all by _myself_, taking care of a _baby_, without help from _anyone_, including the woman I _thought_ I loved and who I _thought_ loved _me_. You're not worth me telling you what those thoughts are, but I'll say this- I don't give a darn anymore if you ever believe me or forgive me. When I needed you the most, when I was ready to finally turn to you and share my life with you, you not only abandoned me, but you called me a liar, and a cheater, and told me that I was worthless to you by tossing our engagement off like it was nothing but trash. Your words, Tendo, 'I never wanted to be engaged to him'." He fell silent, but only for pair of heartbeats. "All the love I had for you is gone now. So what you do with your life, ain't no concern of mine anymore." He turned away again, and then paused.

"And speaking of Kuno? I'll make sure to let him know that the 'vile sorcerer Saotome' no longer has a hold on his 'beauteous Akane'."

* * *

><p>Ranma hummed faintly as he strolled down the street with Sakura in her carrier on his chest, faintly amazed that it had only been a little more than four weeks now that she'd been in his life. <em>A lot's changed since then<em>, he'd thought to himself. Roughly four weeks before, his life had been much simpler, unburdened—no, not a burden; Sakura was most definitely _not_ a burden. But _she_ hadn't been around, then, and his life was slowly swirling down the drain, with his nearly constant fights with Ryouga, or Mousse—Mu Tzu, he reminded himself—or even Akane, and being besieged by demands of his love and affection at practically all hours by Xian Pu, Ukyou and Kodachi.

A part of him was momentarily saddened by the fact that while he'd counted Akane among his potential fiancées, she certainly hadn't considered him much of one, except perhaps to deny the other ladies who wanted his affections that privilege, but he pushed that brief flare of sadness to the side. It went easily enough; he wasn't especially sad much these days now, in part because he was so busy taking care of Sakura, and learning by leaps and bounds about what he would need to know to be a good father to her—to _grow up_, in other words—and in part because of the support system he had inadvertently developed. Detseru-san and Yoshi, as well as the Emperor and the head of the Yakuza—and who would have considered that _that_ person would be a part of his _support system_?

Roughly four weeks ago he didn't had a daughter, a daughter who he had grown to love almost as purely as he had once thought he'd loved Akane. Roughly four weeks ago, he was stuck in the rut that was Nerima, fighting and fending off everyone who wanted a piece of him, doing his best to hold himself together, to keep the peace and not go crazy trying to figure out how to live his life and who he should live his life with. Roughly four weeks ago, he was quietly wondering if all that surrounded him was the sum total of what was his due in life.

And then, _she_ had come. Born to him in the midst of terrible tragedy, she'd given him a focus, a purpose, and had unwittingly shown him just what was important. Her presence had made it clear that he couldn't continue simply _existing_ as he had been doing, that he needed to take _much_ more active role in his own life, that he needed to take someone else into consideration of his thoughts and words and actions, that he needed take a good hard look at himself and what was going on around him, and do better.

And in the midst of it all, Kasumi had helped him.

When no one else had thought to offer him a hand, she had listened to him, and given him what advice she could, in order to help him find the path to fatherhood, to self-improvement, to _growing up_.

And four weeks later, he was a better man—or at least, more of a man, now, than he'd been then. He had friends—real friends; money; powerful connections; and he had begun to make something of himself. But most importantly, what he had was the beginnings of a family, those _he_ had chosen to love and accept into his heart, and every day, while those other things gained a greater solidness as a part of his new reality, he learned even more importantly the strength and emotion of the bonds of those he called family.

Sakura was his family now, more so than his mother and father—especially his father, now. Sakura, and Kasumi. She was his family too, now, even if she didn't quite know it yet; she had been there for him, and the appreciation and affection he felt for her, for just being there for him when he had needed _someone_ to be there—

A faint flicker of ki registered in his awareness, and he went from blissfully unaware to dangerously alert. Almost as quickly- and nearly as one person- the few people on the streets within his field of view all stiffened, and looked around themselves while quickly finding something to duck down behind. A few moments after that, a trio of martial artists dropped down into his view from the rooftops above, a few dozen meters away.

Had it been just Mu Tzu and Xian Pu, and himself, he might have been a bit wary, but lowered his guard. But it _wasn't _just Mu Tzu and Xian Pu, and it wasn't just himself. Ku Lon was with them, and Sakura was with him, and that made what could have been a potentially unpleasant day into a potentially very deadly one.

"Hello…" the elder spoke, and there was a hint of what he might have thought was mischievous hesitation in her tone, though at least at face value her tone was light and polite. Her face was schooled into a neutral, unreadable expression, while her eyes betrayed nothing to him, and though he was well aware of the other two, his truest focus lay with her. Neither Mu Tzu nor Xian Pu spoke, though each looked like they dearly wanted to.

"You made Shampoo cry!" Mu Tzu blurted out in an angry rush, before Ku Lon managed to bop him in the head with her walking stick; the duck boy crouched over, holding his head from the hard rap, and a touch of emotional tension appeared in Xian Pu's expression as she now all but glared at him. The elder simply looked at him, a slight questioning look to her wizzened features.

"I didn't mean to make her cry," the pig-tailed martial artist spoke with quiet steeliness. "I told her that I was tired of all the fiancee mess, and that I was done with it. If she wanted, we could try and maybe be friends one day, but I have a daughter to take care of, and I wasn't her _airen_ anymore."

"Our tribal laws guide us in our actions, wherever we go," Ku Lon spoke with deliberate care.

"I'm not of your tribe," he growled back quietly, "and I have responsibilities that take precedence to your tribal laws. I hope you understand that and what it should mean, honored elder."

"I understand what you think it means," the elder replied.

His eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed. "Do you believe otherwise?" he offered in a voice that was a bit more calm than previously, something that seemed to sharpen the gaze of the elder.

"And if I did?"

He didn't respond right away. Instead, he stood up straight, and lowered his head. For a few moments, a corona of ki grew and outlined the form of his body, and then seemed to fade away again. But when he lifted his head again, all could see ki glowing in his gaze.

"If you did, honored elder, I would be very unhappy."

Ku Lon appeared to be considering his words for a few moments, before she gave him a brief, curt nod of her head, and then a softening of her features. "Fortunately for these two, I believe that my understanding is the same as your understanding."

She then turned towards Xian Pu. "Grand-child," she began, "I have humored you and assisted you in your attempts to gain the affections of son-in-law, but the time has come for you to cease in these attempts. Son-in-law has…" She paused, and then continued, "Saotome-san has explained how you may have a chance, a better chance, to gain his affections, if you do as he suggests. Perhaps that might be a better way."

Ranma frowned; that wasn't what he had been suggesting at all—but a quick glance from Ku Lon and an almost unseen wink let him know that she understood, and he understood in that wink that she was likely doing her best to give Xian Pu hope that not all was lost, and allow her to save face. He clenched his jaw momentarily; he didn't like it, but perhaps the elder was also attempting to save Xian Pu's life as well, knowing or maybe guessing what his reaction might be if she continued to persist in her actions.

"But elder!— " Mu Tzu attempted to interrupt, but the words seem to stick in his throat as she suddenly was looking at him.

"And you, mister part-time," she addressed the myopic hidden weapons expert, "Neither I nor the village will be responsible to you or help you in any way for Saotome's reactions should you cause injury to his innocent child."

"I would never!" Mu Tzu offered in offended complaint, "Saotome, maybe, but never an innocent!" He gave a quick bespeckled glance towards Ranma, and then refocused on Ku Lon. "Is it alright if I injure him as long as his daughter isn't around?"

Ku Lon rapped him across the head again, making the younger Chinese male nearly drop to his knees again in pain.

"If he is no longer _airen_ to Xian Pu, then why would you need to injure him, duck boy?" she asked in an exasperated tone of voice. "Why would you need to attack him at all?

Mu Tzu opened his mouth to answer, and then caught himself, before he gently closed it again.

Ranma watched the trio with a wary gaze, but after the elder's comments, he was less afraid that they'd come to force him to go back to China with them.

"So no more attackin' me?" he asked his suddenly quiet rival, though to be honest, his question was aimed at all of them.

Mu Tzu gave him a heavy frown and seemed to think about his answer before he gave it. "For now," he spoke, his tone somewhat hesitant.

Ranma also took a moment to think about his answer. "Good enough, I suppose," he returned.

"I wanted it made clear," Ku Lon picked up the conversation. "I wanted both Xian Pu and Mu Tzu to know that I will not tolerate their actions causing harm to innocents."

Ranma pursed his lips at that for a moment, but gave a brief nod in understanding; deep down, he knew that it couldn't just _end_, even if it was what he would truly wish for. But it was at least a start; it was a compromise he could live with, for now, that Xian Pu would consider him perhaps as a friend rather than an _airen_, that Mu Tzu would at least consider leaving him alone for the foreseeable future. It would give him room to breathe, room to grow as a person, and the ability to raise Sakura without worrying if he too would leave her abandoned to the world.

"Having done what I'd come to do, Saotome, we shall take our leave now," Ku Lon expressed softly, and then with a brief nod at him, and then at both Xian Pu and Mu Tzu, the three of them leaped up to a nearby rooftop, and disappeared.

He was left oddly empty, but at the same time, oddly at peace as well. It took him a few moments to think it over, to realize that what he was feeling was a sense of ending. _Closure_, he'd remembered reading about once in a story. He nodded to himself. Yes, closure. It was definitely that.

Oddly enough, it was a rather nice feeling.

* * *

><p>-Nerima Prefecture, Shakujii District<p>

One month later…

"This is your place, Ramna-kun?" Kasumi gave a slight gasp as Ranma opened the gate to the small home with a "ta-da!"

It was a small house, or at least it was smaller than the Tendo residence, but it was clearly a house for living in, not as the grounds upon which would stand a dojo. One story in height, it just barely avoided being a cube by the fact that it was a dozen meters wider than the depth of it from front to the rear; it was a modest dwelling, well suited for a young couple with perhaps a single child…or for the aqua-transexual boy named Ranma, and his adopted daughter. Not too far from Kasumi or her family, his new home was situated just a few blocks from Shakujii Park and the Shakujii Police Station, as well as not too far from the daycare center, allowing him a pretty good environment in which to raise Sakura.

The pig-tailed martial artist gave her a wide grin and a brief but enthusiastic nod of his head. "Sure is!" he grinned widely. "Mine and Sakura's." His grin faded a touch as he thought, and then said, "Please don't tell Pop or anyone else where I live? I'd like to have some peace and quiet for as long as I can get it."

"My lips will be sealed," Kasumi grinned back at him, and then giggled softly.

"Would you allow me to show you around?" he offered with a broad, warm, easy smile.

"I would be pleased," Kasumi returned.

His smile grew even further, as he turned to lead his guest into the small yard, and then closed the g**ate behind her.**


End file.
